Avigdor Lieberman Accuses Israeli Lawmakers of Being Hamas Members

Image by getty images
Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman wrote on his Facebook page that some members of Knesset represent Hamas, the terrorist organization that governs Gaza.
The comment, reported by Haaretz, came following an Egyptian court ruling outlawing Hamas and shutting its offices in the country.
“We still have Hamas representatives sitting in the Knesset,” Lieberman wrote, according to Haaretz. He added that his right-wing party “Yisrael Beiteinu will keep working to make them illegal here as well.”
According to Haaretz, MK Jamal Zahalka, chairman of the Arab Israeli Balad party, said, “Lieberman’s attack on the Arab MKs reveals his true face. Lieberman expresses diplomatic moderation to win favor with the Americans, but at the same time expresses racism against the Arabs to win votes and cheap popularity.”
Liberman has been accused of targeting Arab Israelis in his statements and legislative efforts before. Yisrael Beiteinu is currently spearheading legislation to raise the percentage of votes needed to enter the Knesset, a move small Arab parties fear could shut them out of the legislative body. Liberman has also repeatedly called for future land swaps with the Palestinian Authority to include heavily Arab areas of Israel.
Read more: http://www.jta.org/2014/03/05/news-opinion/politics/liberman-some-mks-represent-hamas#ixzz2v5XwG0RU
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a Passover gift today!
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Most Popular
- 1
News Student protesters being deported are not ‘martyrs and heroes,’ says former antisemitism envoy
- 2
News Who is Alan Garber, the Jewish Harvard president who stood up to Trump over antisemitism?
- 3
Politics Meet America’s potential first Jewish second family: Josh Shapiro, Lori, and their 4 kids
- 4
Fast Forward Suspected arsonist intended to beat Gov. Josh Shapiro with a sledgehammer, investigators say
In Case You Missed It
-
Fast Forward Jewish students, alumni decry ‘weaponization of antisemitism’ across country
-
Opinion I first met Netanyahu in 1988. Here’s how he became the most destructive leader in Israel’s history
-
Opinion Why can Harvard stand up to Trump? Because it didn’t give in to pro-Palestinian student protests
-
Culture How an Israeli dance company shaped a Catholic school boy’s life
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
Republish This Story
Please read before republishing
We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:
- Credit the Forward
- Retain our pixel
- Preserve our canonical link in Google search
- Add a noindex tag in Google search
See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.
To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.