Defeat Hamas and ‘clean up’ Gaza — Liberman

Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman says: “It’s clear now that Hamas’s minimum demands are far more than the maximum Israel can agree to.”

Speaking outside the cabinet meeting, the foreign minister calls on the government to “defeat Hamas, clean up the area, and exit as quickly as possible.”

Liberman also says the present situation is unsustainable, and criticizes the government for failing to consider his position throughout the campaign.

“This situation cannot continue. If they would have listened to what I proposed on day one, we would already be past this stage,” he says.

On July 7, a day before Operation Protective Edge began, Liberman attacked Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s restrained response to the escalating rocket fire in Gaza. Liberman said (as he announced the split of his Yisrael Beytenu party from Netanyahu’s Likud): “The reality in which we live with hundreds of rockets in the hands of a terror organization that can decide at any moment to use them is intolerable. Suggestions to wait, listen, delay – it’s not clear to me what we’re waiting for…. We have to end this.”

A week later, on July 15, he said: “An end result to the operation would see the IDF control Gaza.”