Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman visited the community of Or Haner near Gaza Friday and expressed hopes for a weekend without "Color Red" sirens. He also issued a warning to Hamas.
Liberman met the local residents and spoke to the head of the Eshkol regional council, Gadi Yarkoni.
"Here, we busy ourselves with work, with creating things, with life – and there, they occupy themselves with death, with poverty, with hatred," he said, referring to Gaza.
"People ask me, why? That's what there is over there. We really did everything. We evacuated the communities, we went back to the 1967 borders. They spoke to us, they brainwashed us – territories for peace, occupation. We returned territory and we received Kassam rockets."
Liberman said that the reason for the economic crisis in Gaza is that the chairman of the PA, Mahmoud Abbas, cut 300 million dollars from Gaza's budget. "And Hamas is unwilling to transfer a single dollar from its budget to the civilians, for education, for health."
"Hamas's entire budget is 270 million dollars," he explained. "It all goes to producing rockets and tunnels. And the international community asks us to give money to the residents of Gaza. That is absurd, it's their problem. We will try to do what we are responsible for, and what we are responsible for is first and foremost to ensure the security of Israel's citizens."
He issued a threat toward Gaza: "I hope that the weekend will be quiet here. Without 'Color Red' sirens. But is there is Color Red here, there will be a very strong Color Red on the other side as well."