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Lieberman wants defence ministry before joining new government

April 15, 2019 at 11:18 am

Head of Jewish Home party, Avigdor Lieberman [James N. Mattis/Flickr]

Head of Israel’s Jewish Home party Avigdor Lieberman wants to be given the Ministry of Defence if he joins the new government which is likely to be headed by Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party, Quds Press reported yesterday.

The Arabic news site reported Israel Hayom saying that the head of the party’s negotiation team Oded Forer revealed the main conditions for his party to join the government.

The main clause, Forer said, is taking a decisive policy regarding Hamas and holding the defence ministry, which is also being sought by Shas.

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“They will be hard negotiations and we have some basic issues for the talks. Getting the defence ministry is a tiny problem. The basic problem is: what policy will we carry out when we are there?”

Forer also said that his party would not join a government that would accept reaching a deal with Hamas so that “we have to discuss the issue of the lost soldiers every time we speak about humanitarian issue.”

Lieberman has previously vowed to assassinate Hamas Chief Ismail Haniyeh within 48 hours of taking control of the defence ministry. He subsequently became defence minister but did not follow through with his threat.