At the 2025 Democracy Day conference at Reichman University, Yisrael Beytenu party leader MK Avigdor Lieberman expressed his views on Israel’s military strategy, emphasizing that the country must prioritize bringing all hostages home before engaging in any further military actions in Gaza. Lieberman, who previously opposed the Shalit deal, drew a stark comparison between that situation and the current one. “As someone who voted against the Shalit deal, this is a deal of no choice and there is a significant difference. In the Shalit deal, it was a tactical mistake by a few soldiers who failed, soldiers who were on the battlefield. Here, there was a collapse of political and military systems; it’s a failure of the country, and it must take responsibility. First, bring everyone back, and then no one who participated in the October 7 massacre should die a natural death.”
Lieberman went on to comment on the role of former U.S. President Trump’s envoy, Witkoff, in the peace process, stating that Witkoff plans to personally observe the situation and has the full authority to carry out phase B of the plan. “Trump’s envoy, Witkoff, wants to see everything with his own eyes, and is coming with all the authority and power to implement phase B. This means Smotrich will be out [of the government]. Every reasonable person would choose Trump [over Smotrich]. No backing is needed because there’s already a decision. Even if there are elections, there’s already a decision. Legally, there is absolute support, even in a transitional government, for implementing the deal. All parties that put the State of Israel at the top of their priorities will support it because this is a deal of no choice. Afterwards, I don’t see how Smotrich remains [in the coalition]. There’s the ‘Draft Evasion Law’ and the Budget Law, and I struggle to see how such a [draft] law passes in the coalition.”
In closing, Lieberman addressed the ongoing situation in Lebanon, specifically criticizing the Lebanese army for its failure to disarm Hezbollah. He explained that Israel has no reason to withdraw until the Lebanese forces uphold their obligations. “The Lebanese army doesn’t intend to disarm Hezbollah; they didn’t comply with the agreement, so we have no reason to withdraw. If we withdraw now, we won’t be able to bring any residents home. We must demand that the other side fulfill all its commitments. That’s not happening right now.”
{Matzav.com Israel}