Moshe Ya'alon
Moshe Ya'alonMiriam Alster, Flash 90

Former Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon on Sunday morning harshly attacked his replacement, current Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman (Yisrael Beytenu), for calling North Korean leader Kim Jong-un a "madman."

In response, North Korea threatened Israel with a "thousand-fold punishment" for "daring to hurt the dignity of its supreme leadership."

In an interview with Galei Zahal Radio, Ya'alon said that if he were Prime Minister, no government official would be allowed to express himself in such a fashion.

Ya'alon recently formed a new party and intends to run in Israel's next elections.

According to him, Netanyahu needed "first of all to tell his ministers and the cabinet to shut up and not interfere in issues which do not concern them."

"Everyone has become the Defense Minister," Ya'alon said. "The Education Minister, the Transportation Minister, the Construction and Housing Minister - all of them are suddenly Defense Ministers, and they all have an opinion on the subject."

"For several months, I've been warning the government that such comments should not be made. They're irresponsible.

"One time, they admit that we attacked Syria. The next time, they attack North Korea, and say North Korea is part of a pact of evil here. Yeah, so what? Do we lack for enemies? We need to use our brains."