Liberman says Netanyahu was livid over Smotrich’s comments on Saudi ‘camels’

Yisrael Beytenu party chief Avigdor Liberman says Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was apoplectic after his far-right coalition ally Bezalel Smotrich said Saudi Arabi could “keep riding camels” if its precondition for normalizing ties with Israel is the establishment of a Palestinian state.

Smotrich was roundly denounced for the comment, made last week during an onstage interview, and later apologized for his “inappropriate” words.

“A guy who was in the room told me that after Smotrich’s remark about the camels, the screams in the Prime Minister’s Office could be heard in Kedumim and in all the settlements in Samaria,” Liberman tells Walla news, referring to the settlement in which Smotrich, the finance minister, resides.

“Bibi was yelling. They even wanted to call a doctor because they were afraid he might faint in the end. Screams like that haven’t been heard since the Prime Minister’s Office was established,” Liberman asserts. “It’s no wonder Smotrich rushed to apologize. Netanyahu is counting on a deal with Saudi Arabia.”