Finance Minister Avigdor Liberman (Yisrael Beytenu) responded on Saturday to the criticism of the economic plan he presented together with Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and which is intended to lower the cost of living in Israel.
Speaking in an interview with Channel 12 News, Liberman defended the plan, refused to accept the criticism and declared that there would be no new plan. "There will be no new plan next week and no expansion of the current plan. There is no intention to add additional credit points and all decisions will be made in only one place - in the Ministry of Finance."
Liberman refuted the claim that the plan was presented due to public pressure, saying, "Wise consumer behavior is important and public pressure is also important, but we would have made this plan public regardless of recent goings on. At the end of January, we knew that state revenues increased significantly and we wanted to see that the ascent continued and was not a one-time event. When we received more data and saw that it was going on - we unveiled a plan."
On the allegations that the plan he presented harms the haredim, Liberman said that the plan is not against the haredim but rather for working people. "We provide a solution for the workers, those who do not work – that is their choice. There are also a lot of haredim who work."
Liberman also dismissed criticism by former Finance Minister Yisrael Katz, who said on Friday that Liberman “behaved like the greatest antisemites in history”.
"He does not understand anything, the only thing he cares about is counting votes of members of the Likud Central Committee," said Liberman of Katz.