MK Yitzhak Kroizer (Otzma Yehudit) responded on Sunday to the criticism that was levelled at Minister Itamar Ben Gvir following his interview with the Wall Street Journal, in which he criticized US President Joe Biden's policy towards Israel.
"As usual, the Israeli media and elements in the opposition choose to take the American side in the disagreements concerning the security concept of the State of Israel, but don't worry - I remind them that our security interests and shared values with our friends are cast in steel and cannot be challenged," Kroizer said.
He pointed out that "over the years, there have been countless disagreements with the American government on security and policy issues, whether on the question of the attack on the Iraqi nuclear reactor and the tensions over that between the late Prime Minister Begin and the Carter administration, Sharon and George Bush, Jr., Nixon and Golda during the Yom Kippur War, Netanyahu against Obama on the Iranian nuclear issue and Bill Clinton following the Oslo Accords, the great tension between President Bush Jr. and Prime Minister Olmert, and many more."
He also blasted opposition leader Yair Lapid for his reaction to Ben Gvir’s comments. "It's amazing to hear opposition leader Yair Lapid attack Ben Gvir. The same Lapid who, as foreign minister, publicly criticized in a briefing in front of international reporters the manner of the American withdrawal from Afghanistan, and this at a time when Biden was at his lowest point in the polls with less than 40%. A diplomatic attack unprecedented in its severity in which an Israeli Foreign Minister, for the first time in the history of the nation of Israel, criticizes an internal American security issue that does not directly concern Israel's security."
"This is the same Lapid who, upon taking office, ran madly to the Secretary of State Blinken to inform him of a policy of 'zero surprises' regarding any Israeli action by the Mossad and the security forces abroad, with one meaning - risking our forces around the world," he concluded.