Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman faced criticism from colleagues in his Likud Beytenu faction Monday for his surprisingly dovish statements to ambassadors Sunday.
He told the ambassadors that any alternative offer Israel would receive from the international community would not be better than what Israel would be offered by US Secretary of State John Kerry, whom he met on Friday. He also suggested that the border would be close to the Trans-Israel Highway.
“He spoke his opinion, not mine,” Agriculture Minister Yair Shamir, Liberman's number two in Yisrael Beytenu told The Jerusalem Post. “If he continues speaking that way, yes, it could bother me.”
Likud MK Moshe Feiglin warned Liberman that by encouraging negotiations with the Palestinians and concessions to them he was harming the Jewish state.
“The foreign minister is damaging Israel,” Feiglin said. “Talking about giving up any part of the land of Israel brings terror and the delegitimizing of Israel abroad that endanger Israel's existence.”
Liberman also faced criticism from the Left. Former prime minister Ehud Olmert said Liberman's dovish statements were “refreshing” but that they were canceled out by him adding that he would oppose any diplomatic deal with the Palestinians that did not involve an exchange of populations.
“Most Israelis understand and I think Liberman must understand too that there is no chance to make peace by removing the citizenship of Israeli Arabs in the Triangle and Wadi Ara region,” Olmert said.
A source in Yisrael Beytenu responded to the criticism by saying that Liberman had not changed his views but he was acting differently in part because he has a much better relationship with Kerry than he did with his predecessor, Hillary Clinton. He said Liberman would continue expressing his views whether or not they were popular.
“He's a statesman, not a populist trying to scrape for a few votes,” the Yisrael Beytenu source said.