“We witnessed a shameful and ugly horror show produced by Liberman that was full of lies, ignorance and hatred worthy of the worst haters of religion and Jewish tradition of all time.”
By GIL HOFFMANUnited Torah Judaism leader Yaakov Litzman(photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM)
The heads of United Torah Judaism responded fiercely to Yisrael Beytenu leader Avigdor Liberman’s attacks on them at a press conference in the Knesset on Wednesday.At his own press conference two hours earlier, Liberman ruled out a right-wing government with haredi (ultra-Orthodox) parties, who he repeatedly said were not Zionist and were harming the country. He called for the secular parties to unite on an agenda on matters of religion and state.“We witnessed a shameful and ugly horror show produced by Liberman that was full of lies, ignorance and hatred worthy of the worst haters of religion and Jewish tradition of all time,” UTJ head Yaakov Litzman said.Litzman said Liberman has begun his next Knesset campaign, which he said was “more antisemitic than there has been since the founding of the state.”Fellow UTJ head Moshe Gafni said that Liberman must be forced to leave politics and was “more antisemitic than [Joint List faction head Ahmad] Tibi.” Gafni, who heads the Knesset Finance Committee, said Liberman was leading Israel to a massive debt by causing another election.Both Litzman and Gafni noted that Liberman’s attacks on the haredim are a recent election ploy, noting that in municipal races a year ago, UTJ and Yisrael Beytenu cooperated closely in many cities, including Jerusalem, where they both backed winning candidate Moshe Lion.UTJ MK Meir Porush compared Liberman to perpetrators of pogroms in Russia, who he noted attacked Jews under the slogan ""Strike at the Jews and save Russia!"
