Avigdor Liberman
Avigdor LibermanYonatan Sindel/Flash90

MK Moshe Gafni, head of the United Torah Judaism (UTJ) party, on Saturday night responded to MK Avigdor Liberman's (Yisrael Beytenu) statement that he will send the haredi community - and Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu - to the "garbage."

Speaking to Channel 12 News, Liberman said, "I will send the haredim, together with Netanyahu, in one wheelbarrow to a garbage dump."

Responding to the statement, Gafni said: "His desperation in the fight against Netanyahu has led him to say such things. We, the haredim, have for a while already seen him as one who has lost his mind. He apparently knows the garbage dump well, and brings it to the public discourse. I expect the law enforcement authorities to handle this anti-Semitic statement."

UTJ's MK Yisrael Eichler said: "The horrible Evet is not the first who has suggested placing us on carts and wheelbarrows and sending us 'to a good garbage dump.' There were those who threatened it before him, and even [those who] did it."

"This is no longer simple racism from an insane enemy, but a real threat and calls to war that threaten lives. Israel Police and the Prosecutor's Office must interrogate him for the crime of serious incitement and encouraging the bloodshed of haredi Jews."

Avigdor Liberman was born Evet Liberman. He changed his name to the Hebrew Avigdor after immigrating to Israel in 1978. Since the 2019 elections, politicians angry with Liberman have often referred to him as Evet.

MK Yakov Asher (UTJ), who heads the Knesset's Coalition, Law, and Justice Committee, said that he will demand that the Racism Law be amended immediately following the elections.

"In an attempt to gain another quarter of a Knesset seat [based on] blind hatred of religion and haredim, Liberman is willing to use any expression possible, no matter how low. It's time to put an end to the incitement against the haredi community, which in the past year has reached worrisome heights," Asher said.

"My bill to amend the Racism Law so that it includes incitement against haredim was already placed on the Knesset's table, and ahead of the formation of the next government, we will demand that it be presented as a government bill, in order to stop the choir of hatred and incitement."

Housing Minister Yakov Litzman (UTJ) responded: "The temptation to hate and the urge to incite which motivate Evet have caused him to cross the line into a discourse of sewage and despicable words. The public should see and judge whether trying to gain a few votes justifies losing control of logic and brainpower."

"It's embarrassing and pitiful," he added. "I call on the Attorney General to investigate this, in light of the wild and dangerous incitement which encourages harm to the public and is seemingly in opposition to the law and to elections protocols."