Liberman: We will form a govt without Netanyahu, Deri, Litzman and Gafni
Liberman also defended his decision to break censorship and reveal that Israeli officials visited Qatar recently to coordinate the transfer of cash payments from Qatar to Hamas in Gaza.
By JEREMY SHARONYisrael Beytenu leader Avigdor Liberman is seen speaking at the 'Maariv' Conference.(photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM/THE JERUSALEM POST)
Yisrael Beytenu leader MK Avigdor Liberman said on Wednesday that a new government needs to be formed without Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and that a unity government is no longer possible between Blue and White and the Likud.Speaking at a conference of the Maariv newspaper in Herzliya, Liberman also defended his decision to break censorship and reveal that Israeli officials visited Qatar recently to coordinate the transfer of cash payments from Qatar to Hamas in Gaza.“We will form a government without Netanyahu. We want a liberal, secular coalition, and I think the chances of this are very high,” Liberman asserted.He lamented the fact that Netanyahu and Blue and White leader Benny Gantz had failed to form a unity government after the September elections because of arguments over who goes first in a rotation deal for the role of prime minister.“There is no more [chance] of a unity government. It is clear that both of them together can’t build anything. We are ready for the day after the elections. We will have 61 Knesset seats without Netanyahu and [ultra-Orthodox leaders Interior Minister Arye] Deri and [United Torah Judaism chairman Ya’acov] Litzman,” Liberman continued.The Yisrael Beytenu leader was asked why he had violated an IDF Military Censor order against reporting news of the visit to Qatar of Mossad chief Yossi Cohen and OC Southern Command Maj.-Gen. Herzi Halevi, who Liberman said had gone there to ensure continued Qatari payments to Hamas in Gaza.Liberman said that the gag order on reporting the visit was “a cynical use of power,” to keep Israelis in the dark about the issue.“The Qataris know, the Egyptians know, Hamas knows, and from whom are they hiding it? From Israeli citizens,” declared Liberman. “This is a cynical use of the power of the censor.... This was something intolerable.”
