WarSclerotic

A week after resigning as defense minister in protest over the government’s policy toward Hamas, Yisrael Beytenu leader MK Avigdor Lieberman toured the southern city of Sderot on Friday and accused the government of forsaking the city’s residents.

Earlier this month, Sderot and other southern Israeli towns were pounded by hundreds of projectiles launched from Gaza in the worst flare-up of cross-border violence since Operation Protective Edge in 2014. Following the clash, Israel agreed to a cease-fire with Hamas, the terrorist group that rules the Gaza Strip, prompting Lieberman to quit in protest.

Speaking to Sderot residents on Friday, Lieberman said: “We have come to show solidarity with the people of the south, to give them strength and to draw strength from them.

“We all saw the absurdity that was revealed on Thursday, when the Shin Bet security agency exposed a terrorist network in Judea and Samaria that was trying to stage a major attack in Israel, while Israel continues transferring fuel into the Gaza Strip. Next month we will hand over some $15 million from Qatar. That’s just absurd.”

He vowed “to establish a parliamentary office here [in Sderot] so that I can visit every week until we manage to change Israel’s course.”

“There needs to be a decisive victory against terrorism; we must not capitulate,” Lieberman said. “Forget about Hamas. What matters is the policy Israeli is pursuing, the policy of giving in to terrorism. We agreed to a cease-fire on Hamas’ terms, we transferred money and we got 500 rockets.”

Lieberman said that the government wants “to survive at all cost, and that is not a healthy situation,” noting that the recent squabbles in the coalition show that “it is not a functioning government.”

Lieberman’s decision to leave the government followed weeks of what have been described as “prolonged disagreements” with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over Israel’s policy in the Gaza Strip and how best to handle Hamas’ provocations.