WarSclerotic

“Israel is willing to pay the price for the U.S.’s recognition of Jerusalem,” Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman said Tuesday during a visit the communities adjacent to the Israel-Gaza Strip border.

U.S. President Donald Trump’s Dec. 6 recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital “puts an end to a virulent argument that has been going on for years,” he said.

“The president’s decision is historic and we must cement the issue inside and out. It was clear to us that the U.S. president’s announcement would come with a price and we are willing to pay that price. This statement is very important,” he said.

Speaking with the heads of the border-adjacent communities, Lieberman commented on the sporadic rocket fire that has been growing since Trump’s declaration, saying Israel will not tolerate the situation.

“We know how and what to do, and most importantly when to do it. Over the past year and a half, the IDF has been operating with determination and resolve, both in southern and northern Israel. We will not tolerate sporadic rocket fire,” he said.

The defense minister said that the defense establishment’s operations have had a significant effect on the lives of the residents of the border-adjacent communities.

“I think that our activities with regard to terrorism and the terror tunnels, the blows dealt to Hamas, send a clear and important message to everyone,” he said, adding that the situation on the ground is different from “panic and hysteria, especially in the Knesset, in the opposition and in the media.”

Commenting on a High Court of Justice ruling of last week saying Israel has no legal authority to hold the remains of terrorists killed by security forces, unless it revises existing legislation, Lieberman stated, “Terrorists’ bodies will not be returned.”

The court had given the government six months to revise current legislation or return nine bodies the defense establishment currently holds to their families for burial.

Lieberman called the ruling “outrageous” and said he backed the government’s decision to appeal it. “We have six months to exhaust all procedures,” he said.