Jewish Home leader, Education Minister Naftali Bennett, took a swipe at Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman Friday after the latter issued a surprising statement distancing himself from any "arrangement" with Hamas over Gaza.
"It's good to see that that the defense minister has signed on to our point of view," quipped Bennett, "and that he now realizes that Hamas must not be allowed to extort us."
"It's now vital that Hamas not be allowed to rearm itself with tens of thousands of rockets so that we do not find ourselves with 'Hizbullah 2' on the Gaza border," added Bennett – who has said he would like to be defense minister in the next government.
Liberman made his statement earlier in the day while touring Kibbutz Kisufim – saying he has nothing to do with the reported "arrangement" ("hasdarah" in Hebrew) worked out with Hamas.
"I am not involved with the entire subject of the arrangement, I don't believe in 'hasdarah', and the only arrangement is the reality on the ground," said the minister, who is also the head of the Yisrael Beytenu party.
"Over the last few days, we saw that Hamas has complete control over what happens in Gaza," he added. "The 'spontaneous' protests, the residents, all of that is [under] complete Hamas control. There was a holiday over the last few days and all of the violence went down to nearly zero."
"If there is terror, there will be no economy. If there is no terror, there will be an economy," Liberman said. "If today is quiet, the passages will remain open. If there is no quiet they will be closed."