Defence Minister Avigdor lieberman said in an interview with a Palestinian newspaper on Monday that Israel’s next war with Gaza militants would be their last “because we will completely destroy them”.
lieberman, however, said he had no intention of starting a new war in Gaza, which would be the fourth since 2008.
He urged Palestinians to pressure Hamas, the Islamist movement that runs the Gaza Strip, to “stop your crazy policies”.
“As Minister of defence, I would like to clarify that we have no intention of starting a new war against our neighbours in the Gaza Strip or the West Bank, lebanon or Syria,” he said in the interview with Jerusalem-based Al-Quds newspaper.
“But in Gaza, like the Iranians, they intend to eliminate the state of Israel... If they impose the next war on Israel, it will be their last. I would like to emphasise again: It will be their last confrontation because we will completely destroy them.” lieberman is part of what is seen as the most right-wing government in Israeli history, with several prominent members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition openly opposing a Palestinian State.