Liberman says he has not heard from Netanyahu about joining emergency government

Addressing the Likud party’s premature Saturday night statement that the Yisrael Beytenu party was joining the government, Avigdor Liberman says that he was not even contacted by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s people.

Liberman also says his efforts to offer advice to Netanyahu’s aides have been rebuffed.

“Since Saturday evening, no one has spoken with me. I called the [prime minister’s] military secretary yesterday, I wanted to speak with him and at least share my wisdom… I still haven’t gotten a callback,” the former defense minister says.

“Everyone who called me, I spoke with him,” says Liberman of the stalled efforts to bring him into the national emergency government.

“I haven’t spoken with the prime minister in a long time,” he says.

Liberman said on Saturday that he would only join the government if given a spot on the war council, which comprises Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, and Minister Benny Gantz, in addition to observers and staff. While remaining on the government’s sidelines, Liberman, a bitter Netanyahu rival, says that for the duration of the war, it’s important to be united.

Asked what Israel’s plan should be for a post-Hamas Gaza, Liberman says he is against Israel controlling the territory.

“First of all we need to get in and leave, there’s no reason to stay,” the right-wing hawk says.

Instead, he points to Arab and Muslim countries as possible custodians of the embattled coastal enclave.

“The Palestinian Authority was there and failed,” he says, when asked if it could be an option.