Search

Liberman: Likud MKs ‘eulogize’ Netanyahu even as they ‘bury him alive’

Liberman charges that behind the prime minister’s back, Likud members are “eulogizing” Netanyahu and “burying him alive.”

By World Israel News Staff 

Even as he calls for the formation of a national unity government, MK Avigdor Liberman – leader of the Israel Beiteinu party – continues to slam the Likud and its leader, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

On Tuesday, he called Likud MKs “cowards” for not standing up to Netanyahu, and in various interviews over the past couple of days, he insisted that behind the prime minister’s back, party members were “eulogizing” Netanyahu even as they were “burying him alive.”

On the eve of the Jewish Day of Atonement – Yom Kippur – earlier this month, Liberman called one cabinet minister “an animal” and another “a pathetic liar.”

Following April’s Knesset election, Liberman refused to bring his Israel Beytenu party into a Netanyahu-led government, arguing that such a coalition would promote religion coercion.

The result was another parliamentary election in September.

Liberman ran a campaign that headlined the cause of a national unity coalition which would include both the Likud and Blue and White, a faction headed by MK Benny Gantz.

In September’s ballot, Blue and White emerged as the largest Knesset representation with 33 seats in the 120-member Israeli parliament, nudging ahead of the Likud, which came away with 32 seats.

Israel Beiteinu has only eight Knesset seats, but Liberman has been wielding the power of a kingmaker because his party’s support could help determine who becomes Israel’s next prime minister.

Netanyahu informed President Reuven Rivlin on Monday that he was returning “the mandate” which Rivlin had granted him on September 25 to try to form a new government.

The president is scheduled to hand over the baton to Gantz later on Wednesday. Gantz will then have 28 days to try and establish a majority coalition. He does not at this point have the necessary number of Knesset seats.