Channels

Pleased - Lieberman
Photo: Gil Yohanan

Lieberman: Our way won

While Knesset mulls probe of Left, Lieberman convenes faction, says others trying to imitate his party. 'When I see this…I understand our way won,' he says. FM slams Bibi for resisting probe, says he has 'many reasons' to quit coalition

As the Knesset was embroiled in emotional debate Wednesday on probing leftist groups, Yisrael Beiteinu Chairman Avigdor Lieberman convened his faction, declaring that his party achieved a "dual victory" even before the vote on the contentious bill.

 

"The first victory is the very debate and success in placing the issue on the public agenda," the foreign minister said. "This is one of the issues we wanted to raise and put at the focus of public debate, and this was done."

 

"The second issue is the attempt of other coalition partners to imitate Yisrael Beiteinu," he said. "When I see the boycott law and the 'foreign agent' bill I understand our way won."

 

Lieberman slammed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for opposing the probe, saying that while he wants to see a stable government, he has "many reasons" to quit the coalition.

 

"I’m not looking for reasons to undermine the government stability needed by the State of Israel, but this too has reasonable limits," he said. "We'll seek the way to work together. If I'll aim to quit, I have many reasons. I just hope they won't push us into a corner."

 

"In this case, both the prime minister and coalition heads did not conduct themselves collegially, and that's unwise," Lieberman said.

 

The Yisrael Beiteinu chairman stressed that his party promoted the issue even before the election, "and not because it produces electoral gains of one kind or another."

 

'Leftist groups lie'

Lieberman stressed that a commission of inquiry into leftist funding is meant to look into actions, not thoughts.

 

"When we are referring to these organizations, we are not talking about human rights or leftist groups, but rather, terror-supporting organizations," he said. "I regret the fact that the media are not trying to look into this issue with more depth."

 

Lieberman's party member, MK David Rotem, also slammed leftist groups while speaking at the Knesset podium Wednesday.

 

"They lie, they snitch, they present false information and they're causing damage to the State of Israel," he said. "I'm talking about organizations that receive funding from foreign states in order to create an uncomfortable situation for the State of Israel."

 

 


פרסום ראשון: 07.20.11, 20:40
 new comment
Warning:
This will delete your current comment