From the Liveblog of
Monday, October 7, 2024
Liberman says Israel must make price of aggression clear to its enemies
Sam Sokol is the Times of Israel's political correspondent. 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"
Israel needs to adopt a comprehensive regional plan to prevent a fourth Lebanon War, in which “any aggressive action against Israel must end in collecting a heavy price from the other side,” Avigdor Liberman declares — arguing that “the massacre and the atrocities [of October 7] could have been prevented, but the political and security elite behaved arrogantly” and ignored intelligence from the field.
Addressing a counterterrorism conference at Reichman University, the chairman of the hawkish opposition Yisrael Beytenu party says that Israel’s enemies must be made aware of the consequences of aggression in advance and that “once a price has been decided, it must be collected, regardless of pressures or threats of any kind.”
The Syrian regime must be warned that if it continues to operate as a logistical base for Israel’s enemies that Jerusalem will conquer the Syrian side of Mount Hermon, and a buffer zone must be carved out to a depth of 16 kilometers (10 miles) in southern Lebanon, he says, pushing for the creation of a “a series of outposts, defensive positions and lookouts” bolstered by three IDF divisions.
And while this area must be made into a no-man’s land, Israel should not annex it or build settlements, although any Israeli exit must be contingent on Hezbollah renouncing its goal of destroying Israel, he continues.
Liberman also calls for Israeli aid to the Saudi-backed Yemeni government as a counterweight against the Houthis, providing it with “financial assistance, intelligence, weapons and training,” and argues in favor of punishing the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas “is not the solution, he is the problem” and he must pay a price for his “intolerable behavior and hypocrisy,” Liberman states.
“The price should be a complete separation between Gaza and Judea and Samaria,” he says, referring to the West Bank by its biblical names. The State of Israel must rid itself of any responsibility for the Gaza Strip by closing border crossings and ending the supply of water, food and fuel.
“If Abu Mazen wants to enter Gaza, he should fly to Cairo and enter the Gaza Strip from Egypt. Not through Israel,” he declares, using Absas’s nickname.
Like Abbas, European Union and United Nations officials such as Joseph Borrell and Antonio Guterres are antisemitic and they must pay the price through a declaration that UNRWA is a terrorist organization, he concludes.
