Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman has resigned due to differences with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over a Gaza ceasefire. The move may trigger early elections.
Israel’s hard-line defense minister Avigdor Lieberman announced his resignation on Wednesday and called for snap elections after a row over a ceasefire with Gaza’s rulers Hamas to end a two-day flare up in violence
“What happened yesterday — the truce combined with the process with Hamas — is capitulating to terror. It has no other meaning,” Lieberman told journalists. “What we’re doing now as a state is buying short-term quiet, with the price being severe long-term damage to national security.”
A security cabinet meeting on Tuesday ended with a statement from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office saying that ministers had unanimously agreed to the Egyptian-brokered ceasefire.
Lieberman’s office then made a statement saying that his “alleged support for stopping the attacks in Gaza is fake news.”
Four other ministers, including Education Minister Naftali Bennett of the far-right Jewish Home Party, also announced they had opposed the ceasefire.
Netanyahu has defended the truce.
“I see the big picture of Israeli security that I cannot share with the public,” he said at a memorial ceremony. “Our enemies begged for a cease-fire and they know well why. I cannot detail our plans for the future. We will dictate the time and circumstances that are right for Israel and are right for the security of our people.”
Read more The Dw
