Israel’s Foreign Minister tells i24news he’ll push for ouster of Hamas, death penalty for terrorists and will never a form coalition with leftists.

By i24news

The first law Israel’s Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman will push for during his party’s next tenure in the Knesset will be capital punishment for terrorists, the official told i24news in an exclusive interview.

Avigdor Lieberman – Photo: i24news

Capital punishment is currently not practiced in Israel, and only two people were executed in the state’s history: the Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann and a soldier accused of treason and exonerated posthumously.

The hawkish statesman said he was not overly concerned over his party’s performance in the polls, which predicted it might struggle to pass the electoral barrier and could face a spell on the sidelines of Israeli politics.

“When I first ran for the Knesset in 1999, a survey published in Israel’s premier daily confidently proclaimed that we won’t pass the election barrier. We ended up winning four seats. Thus, I prefer to wait for the actual results than speculate now.”

Another position he would defend strongly, Lieberman said, is the pressing necessity to remove the Hamas terror group from its seat of power in the Gaza Strip.

“We’ll demand the destruction of Hamas as Gaza’s governing force. We had three rounds of warfare with Hamas and, at this point, the fourth appears an inevitability.”

He also said he will not form a coalition with a leftist or a centrist premier, as he had never done in the past.

“There’s only one truly national party in Israel, and that’s Yisrael Beitenu.”

He reiterated Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s call to French Jews to immigrate to Israel in the aftermath of January’s Islamist attacks in Paris, which was branded “radical” by some community leaders and officials.

“There’s nothing radical about calling on Jews to make Aliyah. My message to French Jews, and indeed to the Jews of those countries that haven’t suffered anti-Semitic attacks, such as Canada and Australia, is that all Jews belong in Israel.”

View original i24news publication at: http://www.i24news.tv/en/news/israel/62484-150226-i-ll-push-for-death-penalty-to-terrorists-lieberman-says