In Knesset shouting match, Bennett derides Yisrael Beytenu MKs as Liberman’s ‘puppies’

Jewish Home leader Naftali Bennett, Israel’s education minister, spars angrily with Yisrael Beytenu lawmakers in the Knesset plenum Monday, accusing party leader Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman of sending them like “little puppies” to attack him.

Coalition partners Bennett and Liberman have been trading barbs for months, with the defense minister on Monday deriding Bennett for criticizing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over the latter’s refusal to rule out a Palestinian state in talks with the Trump administration. Liberman also accused nationalist-religious leaders of spreading “incitement” and “libels” over the closure of a pre-military yeshiva.

During a Question Time session in the plenum, a query about the rescheduling of the Lag B’Omer holiday vacation in schools quickly spirals into a screaming match between Yisrael Beytenu MK Oded Forer and the education minister.

“Yvet Liberman sent you like little puppies,” Bennett says dismissively, drawing furious yelling by Forer and fellow Yisrael Beytenu MK Yulia Malinovsky.

“Yisrael Beytenu is very combative today,” the minister taunts, “is it possible they received an order from above?”

He also takes aim at the defense minister personally, saying, “Have you assassinated [Hamas leader Ismail] Haniyeh today?” The question refers to repeated promises by Liberman last year that if he were appointed defense minister he’d assassinate Haniyeh within 48 hours if the Hamas leader failed to return the bodies of IDF soldiers killed in the 2014 Gaza war.

“In the IDF, the officer stands in front, he doesn’t send his soldiers [ahead of him],” Bennett tells Liberman’s party members.

The spat only dies down after Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein intervenes.

— Marissa Newman