From the Liveblog of
Monday, January 19, 2026
Liberman says Netanyahu is ‘complicit’ with Haredi extremists who attack soldiers
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleSam 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 chairman Avigdor Liberman slams Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, asking him if he has “forgotten what it is to be a Zionist.”
“How can it be that in the heart of the State of Israel, in the city of Bnei Brak, soldiers from the Hasmonean Brigade are attacked — five soldiers wounded — and you are silent?” he asks during a 40-signatures debate in the Knesset.
Last Sunday, extremist Haredi protesters broke into a gathering held for parents of recruits to the newly formed ultra-Orthodox Hasmonean Brigade. The IDF says no soldiers were wounded.
There was “not a single response from the Prime Minister’s Office. How can it be that a soldier in uniform cannot walk around Bnei Brak?” Liberman continues. “How can it be that there are entire neighborhoods closed to IDF soldiers… and you continue to remain silent?”
Liberman says despite claims that such attacks are carried out by a handful of extremists, “that is the central pillar you rely on. When the Chief Rabbi of Israel, Yitzhak Yosef, says: ‘If you receive a draft order, tear it up and throw it in the toilet’ — and you are silent, are you complicit with him? When [United Torah Judaism party chairman Yitzhak] Goldknopf talks about conscription in terms of the yellow star and you are silent, are you complicit with him?”
“That’s how you became an accomplice of those extremists,” Liberman adds. “Mr. Prime Minister, nothing will help. In the upcoming elections, we will return you to the opposition benches and we will also make decisions about conscription for everyone.”
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