'Bibi the puppet': Liberman blasts Trump's backing of Netanyahu

Yisrael Beytenu chairman MK Avigdor Liberman criticized US President Donald Trump's relationship with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday, accusing the American president of seeking to run Israel through "Bibi the puppet," during an interview with 103FM.

Liberman made the remarks in response to a public statement of support for Netanyahu issued by Trump on Sunday. He also addressed the controversy surrounding Channel 14 presenter Yinon Magal's remarks about former IDF chief of staff Gadi Eisenkot.

"I understand that President Trump finds it very convenient to run Israel through 'Bibi the puppet,'" Liberman said.

Liberman expressed his discomfort with the relationship between Trump and Netanyahu.

"We are seeing things here that we have never seen before. Trump says, 'He won't attack in Beirut because I told him not to,' and he says, 'Bibi will do everything I tell him to do,'" Liberman claimed. "I appreciate President Trump. He has genuinely done a great deal for the citizens of Israel, but the decision is a decision for the citizens of Israel."

"Any leader elected in the State of Israel will know how to work very well with President Trump, but we are an independent and sovereign country, and we must behave like an independent and sovereign country," Liberman added.

"I am hardly in a position to interpret President Trump, but the decision is ours. We will know how to work well with both Trump and others."

The question remains whether the leaders of the bloc seeking to replace Netanyahu can work effectively with one another.

Liberman was therefore asked why he had referred to Gadi Eisenkot as "Gantz 2."

"I want us to establish a Zionist government, made up exclusively of Zionist parties. All this talk about a minority government is a dangerous trap," the Yisrael Beytenu chairman argued.

"After October 7, the Israeli public shifted to the Right, and in the elections, you have to move three to four seats from one bloc to the other so that the bloc of those who serve defeats the bloc of draft dodgers. A minority government is the most unstable thing there is, and such a government will not last long. Within a short time, you will be back at the polls, and you will bring Bibi and his associates back with 70 seats."

Liberman therefore maintained that he would not join a government dependent on parties that, in his view, were unwilling to condemn Hamas.

"Anyone who wants to rely on someone who defines Hamas as a charitable organization can do so. I won't."

Later in the interview, Liberman was asked to respond to remarks made by Yinon Magal on Channel 14, in which he referred to Gadi Eisenkot as a "monkey."

Liberman said he was not surprised.

"This is a racist coalition. We are talking about a racist office. There is also Ziv Agmon and all the previous statements."

He recalled that members of Netanyahu's political circle had also made offensive remarks targeting another ethnic community.

"There were also attempts by Minister Chikli to do a pathetic imitation of a Russian accent."

Liberman described Magal as "Netanyahu's chief mouthpiece."

"That same Yinon Magal also lashed out at the Bibas family. This is the commander's spirit. This is what is coming out of the Prime Minister's Office. This entire coalition is racist. These two parties, Shas and United Torah Judaism, survive thanks to religious coercion and ethnic divisions. We must put an end to these things."