Chairman of Yisrael Beytenu, Avigdor Liberman, spoke today (Monday) at the beginning of his party's faction meeting and addressed Likud members with a request to replace Prime Minister Netanyahu and an unusual announcement that he would support any Likud MK (other than Netanyahu) running for general elections.
Liberman began by saying: "If the Prime Minister does not take responsibility, I expect other members of Likud to do so for him. Replace him with whoever you want. We will give you a safety net. "I am ready to commit to any Likud candidate for Prime Minister if you replace Netanyahu," he reiterated.
Liberman also criticized the government's efforts in the war in Gaza. The opposition MK, who served in the past as Minister of Defense under Netanyahu, claimed that fighting in Gaza has come to a stop.
"We've had enough. Each cabinet member acts according to his own ego as and political considerations. Where is the 'Together we will win?' If three cabinet members are not able to stick with the same message, how can we win the war?" he asked.
"For your information, there is no war at the moment. It's over. For every step forward, (the army) takes two steps back," insisted the Yisrael Beytenu leader. "We already took over Khan Yunis, and again we are returning to northern Gaza. How much can you continue with only the 98th division and four brigades? We are faltering, and we are in a state of emergency. This is not war. And for that we are paying a very heavy price because the government does not keep its promises to the public."
"One of the commitments made by the cabinet was to create a security strip a kilometer deep into Gaza," revealed Liberman. "Most of the attacks are carried out in booby-trapped houses 400 meters from the border - that is - inside the perimeter. All you need is to give the order to bulldoze the entire border, take down all the buildings, and carefully maintain that security strip. But this is simply a government of nobody's that is unable to do anything but talk and try to engineer people's mindsets," he added.
"So there is no activity, no order of battle, no plans, and therefore the government has used up its 150 days of credit. That's it, time's up. And when I talk about change, first of all I would expect the Prime Minister to take responsibility and resign just (like he promised he would) in the Winograd Committee, saying that the Prime Minister is responsible for everything that happens during wartime and the years in between."
"If the Prime Minister does not take responsibility and resign, I expect the members of the Likud faction to do so for him, and replace him with whoever they want. We will give you a safety net. I am ready to commit to support any candidate from the Likud if he replaces the prime minister. If this is not done either, elections should be held immediately. True, this is a very bad option, but less so than the continuation of Netanyahu's term as prime minister. Time is up."