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Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman criticized Education Minister Naftali Bennett on Monday morning after Bennett allegedly confronted IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot at a meeting of the security cabinet
about the tensions in the Gaza Strip.
"A politician who seeks to win at the expense of the IDF leader is the most disgusting thing," Lieberman told Ynet, not to mention Bennett by name.
The Security Council met on Sunday to discuss tensions at the Gaza border, the discussion focusing on a response to incendiary kites and balloons, which wreaked havoc in Israel, burning thousands acres of farmland and woodland. areas. While the Cabinet approved a new policy that the IDF would open fire on cells that threw incendiary balloons and kites, Bennett did not agree with the nature and strength of the response.
Lieberman, Eisenkot, Bennett (Photo: Ohad Zwigenberg, Yair Sagi)
In discussing the fact Bennett wondered, "Why not shoot someone who throws air weapons into our communities and cells, there is no legal impediment, why not shoot them next to them and not directly on them? are terrorists for all intents and purposes. "
The IDF chief replied, "I do not think shooting at teenagers and children – who sometimes throw balloons and kites – is right."
"And if it was an adult identified as an adult?" Bennett asked.
"Are you proposing to drop a bomb from an airplane on incendiary balloons and kites?" Eisenkot asked.
When Bennett responded in the affirmative, the IDF chief stated, "I disagree with you, it's against my operational and moral positions."
Defense Minister Lieberman went out on Monday to Eisenkot's defense, saying that "trying to win at the expense of the IDF chief means that this person does not have a red line, and I do not do not think it's worthy of mentioning. "
He insisted that "I did not mention any names, I do not intend to comment on any particular person," adding, "I do not remember not what happened in the Council of Ministers.
Bennett's Bayit Yehudi party responds to Lieberman, calling it "weak, confused, and transparent, which should focus on the eradication of terrorism in the south."
Lieberman criticized his fellow Cabinet ministers for disclosing details of meetings to the press. "After every incident, there are those who jump on the bandwagon and come to wisdom with hindsight," he said. "I think we need to do all these cabinet discussions and not run away. We have to talk over there and make decisions there."
Lieberman was indifferent to the criticism of the Minister of Transport and Transport Yisrael Katz. proposing a plan to overthrow the Hamas regime in Gaza.
"I have no claim to any minister or any other, in politics, no matter: every politician claims to be the Minister of Defense, and no matter whether he is a minister or a member of Parliament. Opposition, his job would always be to criticize the Minister of Defense, "he said.
The defense minister rejected claims by Hamas and Islamic Jihad that Israel would have agreed to a ceasefire. "There is no ceasefire, we sent a very clear message to Hamas on Saturday, and it was a kinetic message, not verbal, and I am not sure. hope they understand the message, "he said. "In any case, the ball is in their camp."
IAF attacks in Gaza (Photo: MCT)
"We tried to exhaust all options to avoid a large-scale conflict in the Gaza Strip," said Lieberman. "We proposed a package of humanitarian aid, and we offered all kinds of economic aid measures – of course in exchange for a resolution on the issue of MIAs and prisoners of war, so that we can come back to a different reality.I believe everyone in Israel understands that if the Gaza Strip continues with friction on the border fence, with fires, with all kinds of flying objects, we will We have no other choice. "
While admitting that there was "a dramatic fall in violent riots and attempts to set fire to land within the state of Israel", he noted that "there is no security yet."
The defense minister explained that a vast military campaign must have broad consensus because of the plurality of parties, factions and groups in Israel. "It's the difference between the Six Day War and the first Lebanon war," he said.
Lieberman pointed out that Israel was "not discouraged" by a military operation in Gaza. "Even though it is the most painful, the most intense operation we have to conduct, we do not want to continue to endure this reality," he said.
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