From the Liveblog of
Tuesday, December 5, 2023
Liberman claims he offered to join cabinet, doesn’t mention demands
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After the possibility of his Yisrael Beytenu party joining the wartime coalition is broached at a press conference, Avigdor Liberman claims he’s always been ready to join up.
“Immediately when the war erupted, I announced that if the prime minister asked me to join the war cabinet, I would do so without a second thought, because the people of Israel come first,” he writes on X. “It’s a shame that once again Netanyahu doesn’t know, doesn’t hear, doesn’t see.”
In fact, on October 8, Liberman delivered a statement to the press in which he said he would join the government, but only if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and IDF chief of staff Herzi Halevi “stand in front of the cameras and inform the Jewish people” that the government intends to “eliminate the Hamas terror organization and all its terrorist leaders.”
The strings, he said, were non-negotiable.
Though Netanyahu, Gallant and Halevi have all vowed to eliminate Hamas’s leadership, it’s not clear if any proffer was ever made to Liberman to join the government, or if he ever sought to make good on his offer.
Liberman notes that if he were to join, his participation would only last as long as Israel’s war with Hamas.
The Times of Israel Community.