Liberman says Iran ‘planning a Holocaust for us in the next two years’

By Sam Sokol 5 June 2024, 9:24 am

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Sam Sokol is a former political correspondent at The Times of Israel. He was previously a reporter for the Jerusalem Post, Jewish Telegraphic Agency and Haaretz. He is the author of "Putin’s Hybrid War and the Jews"

Yisrael Beytenu party leader Avigdor Liberman leads a faction meeting at the Knesset in Jerusalem, on May 27, 2024. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

The Islamic Republic of Iran is “planning a Holocaust for us in the next two years,” hawkish opposition MK Avigdor Liberman tells Army Radio, arguing that Tehran plans to repeat its recent April 13 missile attack, only on a march larger scale, in the future.

“We are in the midst of an Iranian extermination program,” the Yisrael Beytenu party chairman says, arguing that if Iran is allowed to create a “nuclear umbrella,” it will use the deterrence it has obtained to launch a devastating strike.

“Israel will be attacked with the aim of destroying it from several fronts with tens of thousands of missiles at the same time. They are planning a holocaust for us in the next two years,” he says.

This April, Iran launched around 300 missiles and drones at the Jewish state, almost all of which were downed by Israel and its allies. Following the strike, Liberman said that Israel had no alternative but to hit back at Iran and must seek “maximal coordination” with the US in doing so.

Liberman has been a harsh critic of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s handling of the war in Gaza and the north, stating in January that Israel’s military must “close off” a swath of southern Lebanon and push the Hezbollah terror group north of the Litani River, even if it means 50 years of occupation.

“We will not annex anything, and we will not build settlements, but we will release the territory only when there is a government in Beirut that knows how to exercise its sovereignty,” he said at the time.