As Yisrael Beitenu Party Chairman Avigdor Liberman enters the Defense Ministry this week, his declarations regarding the Palestinians will be put to the test of reality. Liberman has previously argued that Israel must depose Hamas rule in Gaza and even made this a condition for Yisrael Beitenu joining the Netanyahu government after the last election in March 2015.
On April 16, Liberman declared at a cultural event in Beersheba that if he were defense minister he would put a condition to senior Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh: “You can hold me to my word,” he told the interviewer. “If I were defense minister, I would give Mr. Haniyeh 48 hours. Either return the bodies [of Israeli fallen soldiers Hadar Goldin and Oron Shaul] and the citizens [Avera Mengistu and Hisham al-Sayyad] or you die.”