Yisrael Beytenu Chairman MK Avigdor Liberman on Tuesday morning claimed Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is "forming a coalition with Hamas."
At the Israeli Democracy Institute's annual conference, Liberman said Netanyahu, "who yelled about the possibility of forming a coalition with the Joint Arab List, is forming a coalition with Hamas. He's working in coordination with them."
"We saw it in the last round of fighting. Netanyahu prefers to buy quiet from Hamas and he pays protection money to terror organization. Hamas continues building its power base undisturbed. It manufactures two rockets a day, which can reach until Hadera. So in another three years, Hamas will turn into Hezbollah."
"There is a continuous erosion of Israel's deterrence, and this weakness is apparent on the outside as well. They've learned that they can translate ongoing conflict with Israel, like we've seen in Gaza for over a year, into a financial dividend. When you reward acts of violence with money and other concessions, it comes with a price."
Likud responded: "It's hard to take criticism from Liberman, who seriously considered joining a minority government which relied on Hamas supporters."