Israeli Defense Minister: Palestinian Authority Trying to Drag Hamas into War with Jewish State

File - In this Tuesday, June 14, 2011 photo, Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman ta
AP/Tara Todras-Whitehill

Ynetnews reports: Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman accused Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Thursday of increasing pressure on Hamas in the Gaza Strip to “drag it to war with Israel.” Lieberman, who spoke at the Herzliya Conference, warned that “the situation in Gaza can’t last forever.”

“This is an internal Palestinian crisis that’s not going to end,” he said of Abbas’s decision to pay less for electricity to the strip, leaving Israel no choice but to reduce the electricity it provides Gaza, thus exacerbating the crisis.

“Abbas is going to increase cuts and soon stop the payment of salaries in Gaza and the transfer of fuel to the strip as a two-pronged strategy: Hurt Hamas and drag it to war with Israel. Abbas is doing this unilaterally, without having coordinated with Israel or Egypt,” Lieberman said. Regardless, he stressed, Israel “has no intention to go to war—not in the north, nor in the south… we’re leading a clear policy against Gaza, without trailing behind.”

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