Ya’alon hints Liberman unfit to be defense minister
DM takes swipe at Yisrael Beytenu head for saying he would demand Defense Ministry in next government
Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon suggested Sunday that Yisrael Beytenu chairman Avigdor Liberman was unsuited to succeed him as defense minister following next month’s elections.
At a news conference, Ya’alon said the post required a high level of knowledge and expertise. “The defense minister’s work involves effort,” the Likud MK said, according to Channel 2. “I think that security goes beyond the slogans. It’s routine work. Hard work. Responsible management and judgment.”
He was hinting, reporters noted, that Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman, whose brief military service saw him rise to the rank of corporal, lacked these traits.
The comment came a day after Liberman announced that he will demand the Defense Ministry as a precondition for joining any government formed after the March 17 elections.
He sought the defense portfolio, he said, because he was dissatisfied with the way the government handled Operation Protective Edge in Gaza last summer — a criticism of Ya’alon, a former IDF chief of staff, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who set the strategy and managed the daily execution of the operation.
“Fifty days of war and they [Hamas] are still in power [in the Gaza Strip]? They continue to produce rockets, to build tunnels,” Liberman charged.
“Look at how the Jordanians responded to the killing of their pilot [at the hands of the Islamic State]. That’s how we should respond. This is the only way in the Middle East. There must be a strong response,” he added.
After the Islamic State released a gruesome video this week showing the burning alive of captive Jordanian pilot Muaz Kasasbeh, Jordan promptly executed two Al Qaeda-linked prisoners and stepped up its airstrikes on IS targets as part of the US-led coalition against the group.
Recent polls suggest Yisrael Beytenu — which has been rocked by a corruption scandal in recent weeks — will gain between four and six seats in the next Knesset, a marked decline from the 13 it holds in the outgoing parliament.
The Times of Israel Community.