Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman’s attack today on Turkey, the Palestinian Authority, and Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu’s policies has drawn harsh criticism from parties across the political spectrum, ranging from the opposition to the prime minister himself.Several hours after Lieberman called the Turks liars and the Palestinian Authority illegitimate, and slammed Netanyahu’s promises for peace, the Prime Minister’s Office issued a statement saying Lieberman’s position does not represent Israel.
Lieberman’s comments “represent his personal political positions, just as ministers in the government have different positions from each other. Israel’s position is solely the one that the prime minister expresses,” the statement read.
Members of the Labor Party also issued a public condemnation of Lieberman’s comments. “The government of Israel, headed by Netanyahu, has committed to the vision of two states for two people,” Labor’s statement said. “The Labor Party maintains that the time has come to ratify the prime minister’s Bar-Ilan speech as government policy and act according to it as soon as possible. Only progress in the peace process will foil attempts to delegitimize Israel in the international community.”
Labor’s statement also said it was disappointed that the foreign minister is trying to thwart any advances in the peace process by issuing “hasty and irresponsible statements.”
Harsher statements against Lieberman were issued by the opposition, who issued a statement saying that Lieberman’s comments prove that Israel has no leadership.
“Lieberman said what every citizen in Israel knows: Israel has a government with no real policies, a government without direction and a government without leadership,” Kadima’s statement said.
“The government of Netanyahu, Lieberman, Yishai, and Barak is harming the state of Israel and causing it to deteriorate politically, economically, and socially.”
Earlier Sunday, Lieberman personally attacked Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, saying that the Palestinian Authority is an “illegitimate government that doesn’t conduct elections. We should not reach an agreement with them.”
Lieberman also criticized Netanyahu, saying that his attempt to achieve a peace agreement with the Palestinians that would tend to all core issues within a year is simply unrealistic.
“Even if we offer the Palestinians Tel Aviv and a retreat to 1947 borders, they will find a reason not to sign a peace agreement with us,” Lieberman said.
Lieberman also took a stab at Turkey, calling the Turkish prime minister and foreign minister liars and added that Israel will not apologize for killing nine Turkish activists during Israel’s raid on a Gaza-bound ship in May.
{Haaretz/Matzav.com}
