Netanyahu dividing Israelis, sacrificing 'Israel': Minister

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Israeli occupation Prime Minister-designate Benjamin Netanyahu and the leader of the Ashkenazi Haredi party Moshe Gafni of dividing the Israelis into two or more peoples, Israeli occupation Finance Minister Avigdor Lieberman said on Saturday.

"Netanyahu, Gafni, and their friends are dividing the Israeli people into two factions: those who serve in the military and pay taxes and those who sit in denominational schools and benefit from the taxes," Lieberman told Israeli Channel 13.

"All of the coalition talks are on the one end aimed at disintegrating the government and on the other end to disintegrate the people into two or more peoples," the minister added.

"Netanyahu is sacrificing Israel and his party", he said, to salvage himself from the judiciary fiasco he is going through.

"Netanyahu is sacrificing all the other interests, including Israel's key interests and those of the Likud party, for personal gain," Lieberman concluded.

The Likud party announced in November that it signed its first coalition agreement with the Jewish Power party, headed by extremist Itamar Ben Gvir.

This agreement grants Knesset Member Itamar Ben Gvir the Occupation's Police Minister and a seat in the occupation's security cabinet.

The agreement guarantees that the Jewish Power party will also obtain the Ministry of 'Development' of Al-Naqab and Al-Khalil. According to the Likud statement, it was agreed to expand the powers and fields of the ministry's work, and it will be called the Ministry of Development of Al-Naqab and Al-Khalil and 'National' Strength," Israeli media said.

Former Chief of Staff and MK Gadi Eisenkot touched on the decision to appoint Ben Gvir as Occupation Police Minister, saying on his Facebook page: “We were informed this morning that MK Ben Gvir will be appointed 'Minister of National Security'. It is a sad joke at the expense of the citizens of 'Israel'."

Eisenkot further stressed that the occupation's so-called "national security ministry's" position is a "field much broader than internal security. It is a strategic position that guarantees the 'national' ability to deal effectively with threats to the existence or 'national' interests of the 'state', and is not a term to be used randomly in order to please politicians."

The victory of the right by a clear majority in the elections that took place on the first of November, which ended a political deadlock that lasted nearly 4 years, raised the ceiling of expectations within the Likud party to quickly conclude alliances with religious-nationalist parties that share the party's ideas and orientations.

However, divisions have emerged between the Likud and the Religious Zionism party, as Religious Zionism MKs are calling for the leader of the party, Bezalel Smotrich, to assume the position of Occupation Security Minister so that the party can influence policy related to the occupied West Bank, more than half of which is completely under Israeli military control. At the same time, the Likud Party is trying to keep this high office for themselves.

Rabbis from the Religious Zionism party called on their students to refuse to serve in the Armored Corps of the Israeli occupation forces in objection to "Tel Aviv" integrating three female Israeli soldiers into a military training course in which religious soldiers are participating, bringing to the foreground the existing issues and strain between religious and secular soldiers within the IOF, once again raising the issue of dual loyalty among its ranks.

Read next: 'Window into Israeli Army': A dispute between Rabbis and IOF

"Rabbis in the military called on their students not to serve in the armored corps in protest against the inclusion of women in the training course," Israeli media said.

Additionally, Israeli media described the Rabbis' calls as a form of a "Rabbi revolution against the army", noting that in light of women becoming part of the same company as religious men, Rabbi Yaaqov Medan called on his religious students not to enlist in the company in question.