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Lieberman: ‘Our conflict is with the entire Muslim world, with the entire Arab world’

July 10, 2019 at 11:53 am

Former Israeli defence minister Avigdor Lieberman [PakCricket/Twitter]

Former Israeli defence minister Avigdor Lieberman, a possible kingmaker in September’s elections, renewed his incitement against Palestinian citizens on Monday, as reported by the Times of Israel.

Speaking at a campaign trail meeting in Kiryat Ono, the Yisrael Beiteinu chair described the “conflict” as “three-dimensional” – “with the Arab countries, with the Palestinians and Israeli Arabs”, adding that “the third conflict, with Israeli Arabs, is the most difficult”.

“We do not have a separate conflict with the Palestinians, and anyone who claims so, does not understand what he is talking about or is being deliberately misleading,” he said.

“Our conflict is with the entire Muslim world, with the entire Arab world,” Lieberman declared.

READ: Religion cannot be separated from state in Israel says Lieberman

The comments were originally carried by Zman Yisrael, the Times of Israel’s Hebrew-language sister site, “and approved for publication by Liberman though the event was billed as closed to press”.

Lieberman told the attendees that “the arrangement must be three-dimensional and simultaneous with the Arab League, with Israeli Arabs and with the Palestinians”, adding: “Any attempt to reach a separate agreement with the Palestinians or the Arabs of Israel will fail.”

As noted by the report, Lieberman has long called for a permanent settlement to include redrawing Israel’s pre-1967 boundaries so as to remove major population centres of Palestinian citizens.

The former minister also routinely attacks the “loyalty” of Palestinian citizens of Israel; on Monday, Lieberman “lashed out” at Palestinian parliamentarians, saying it was “total madness” that Israel “tolerated elected representatives in the Knesset who sided with its enemies”.