Defence chief quits over ceasefire plan
Israel’s defence minister Avigdor Lieberman has resigned his post in protest against a ceasefire reached by Benjamin Netanyahu’s government with Gaza militants.
Mr Lieberman termed the ceasefire, which ended two days of intense fighting, “surrender to terrorism”. The move could bring about early elections.
ISRAEL’S DEFENCE minister Avigdor Lieberman has resigned his post in protest against a ceasefire reached with Gaza militants.
The move has rocked the Israeli political scene and seemed likely to bring about early elections.
Mr Lieberman termed the ceasefire, which ended two days of intense fighting, “surrender to terrorism”, and said he could no longer serve a government that endorsed it.
Mr Lieberman had demanded a far stronger Israeli response to the most intense round of rocket fire against Israel since the 50day war in 2014, but appeared to have been overruled by prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
His resignation delivers a major blow to Mr Netanyahu’s coalition government and sparked immediate calls for early elections.
Mr Lieberman said he hoped a date would be set for a new vote, and the opposition parties joined his call.
The government could technically survive without Mr Lieberman’s Yisrael Beiteinu faction.
But with elections currently set for November 2019, it is unlikely to last that long in lameduck form.
Mr Lieberman’s resignation will take effect in 48 hours and Mr Netanyahu will take over on an interim basis.
Residents of southern Israel had greeted news of the ceasefire with anger as dozens of protesters in the rocket-battered town of Sderot chanted “Disgrace!” at what they saw as the government’s capitulation to violence.
Recent months have seen sporadic rocket attacks as well as militant infiltration attempts and a wave of incendiary kites that have destroyed Israeli crops.
Mr Netanyahu presented the decision to step back from a fullblown conflict as a unified one made by his security cabinet and based on the military’s recommendations.
But Mr Lieberman and education minister Naftali Bennett, another hard-line member of the Security Cabinet, later ex- pressed reservations, saying they favoured a stronger response.
Mr Netanyahu defended his actions at a memorial ceremony for Israel’ first prime minister, David Ben-Gurion. “I see the big picture of Israeli security that I cannot share with the public,” he said.
“Our enemies begged for a ceasefire and they know well why.”
The frontier had remained quiet following the ceasefire.
Seven Palestinians, including five militants, have been killed during the latest fighting. In Israel, one person was killed in a rocket strike and three were critically wounded.