BREAKING NEWS

Former Minister of Defense Lieberman opens up parliamentary office in Sderot

Remarks by former Minister of Defense MK Avigdor Lieberman at the opening of his parliamentary office in Sderot:
"We planned this event, the opening of the parliamentary bureau even before the early elections were announced, and I met here two and a half months ago with our deputy mayor Marek Iprimov and our faction in Sderot, and we agreed that a parliamentary bureau was opened here in order to strengthen ties with the residents of the south.
"And we are at the beginning of an election campaign, I have never concealed my opinion that we do not have to wait for the rockets, we do not have to wait, God forbid, for the casualties on our side ... The residents of the Gaza vicinity are entitled to security just like all the rest of the State of Israel. This is intolerable when the State of Israel allows the transfer of $15 million from abroad.
"When we receive a cease-fire under Hamas conditions, after we have received 500 rockets on the south of the country and grant immunity to Hamas leaders in the Gaza Strip, this is an eclipse and an improbable and unacceptable thing, and the transfer of equipment or the supply of fuel is unacceptable.
"Qatar to finance additional fuel. Currently, the power supply reaches up to 12 hours in the Gaza Strip. We have increased the fishing space without conditioning it on the release of our soldiers and citizens who are held captive by Hamas.
"This is unlikely. As far as I'm concerned, any transfer, any assistance, must be conditioned on the release of the soldiers and civilians held captive by Hamas. And here you do not have to be afraid. We have to stand up and clarify our position. I would not have waited either, and it's no secret, you do not have to wait for any event. We have all the options: to give a preemptive strike, even at the cost of confrontation, but it is impossible to continue when people are running here every day to shelters.
"Last Saturday night at 9 PM when everyone put the children to sleep, suddenly a red alert sounded and everyone ran to dimensions or to shelters. This reality must be stopped, and I am certain that Yisrael Beytenu after the elections will return to the centers of power, and I also hope to return to the Ministry of Defense. We have given the basic guidelines of the next government, which will be given a free hand in the fight against terrorism. This will of course be a minimum threshold for entering the next government," Lieberman concluded.