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The Israeli Knesset is faced with a deep divide that has become a greater risk to its existence as Moshe Yaalon argued on August 27 when he said that “Israel’s” greatest existential threat comes from internal strife.

Avigdor Lieberman, current Finance Minister, has condescendingly attacked former PM Benjamin Netanyahu, also known as the leader of the opposition, during a government meeting that quickly turned the Knesset into a political circus.

Before entering the government meeting, Israel Hayom reported that what appeared to be a very upset Finance Minister said that "Netanyahu knows that what separates him from the government in Israel... He is trying to forget the letters he received from the Miron Committee - and all his efforts are directed against me,” adding that his bloc will do everything possible to ensure that the Likud does not cross the 59 thresholds at the polls in the upcoming elections.

Once inside the meeting, Lieberman redirects his speech toward Netanyahu’s Likud, as Israeli media reported, and said that “He is the scum of the human race, he has no red lines."

To which, Israel Hayom reported, the Likud responded "Lieberman is inciting the Nationalists under pressure. The man who suggested throwing the ultra-Orthodox into the landfill is now calling Netanyahu derogatory names as the last of the gangsters. Let's hope he doesn't offer anyone $100,000 to eliminate Netanyahu,” adding that "Lieberman can stop hallucinating, Likud and former Prime Minister Netanyahu have nothing to do with the disturbing allegations published against him in recent days."

MK Moshe Gafni, the chairman of Torah Judaism, also had a response to Lieberman’s accusations of Netanyahu and was quoted by Israel Hayom saying “Lieberman has revealed his true face, the issue is not a concern for the citizens of Israel or their economy, but hatred of Netanyahu. The man has completely lost it."

Lapid and the Iranian nuclear deal

Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid said, at the start of the government meeting, that “Israel” will continue to add pressure on the US not to rejoin the Iran nuclear deal, but not to the point of causing a diplomatic crisis.

“We are leading an intensive campaign meant to prevent the signing of a dangerous nuclear deal between Iran and world powers,” he said.

Lapid spoke the day before Mossad chief David Barnea was scheduled to leave for Washington to speak to the House and Senate Intelligence Committees about the “Iranian threat and the dangers of a nuclear deal”, and several days after the Israeli PM reportedly spoke with US President Joe Biden about the Iran deal.

“The correct policy is the one that we have been leading in the past year: To continue the pressure, without causing a rupture, to present credible intelligence, to be part of the process without destroying the special relationship with the US,” Lapid added.

“The reservations we presented to the US government were taken into account,” Lapid stressed.

Nevertheless, Washington has not released a statement regarding Lapid's notes nor did it promise any guarantees in its upcoming dealing with the JCPOA revival.

Ex-Chiefs also comment on Netanyahu and the Iran nuclear deal

Five former chiefs of staff of the IOF, according to The Times of "Israel", Ehud Barak, Moshe Yaalon, Gabi Ashkenazi, Benny Gantz, and Gadi Eisenkot, argued in a rare joint interview during the inauguration of a library that the disintegration of Israeli internal social cohesion poses a threat to “Israel” greater than Iran turning into a nuclear threshold state.

When the interviewer questioned the five ex-chiefs about Netanyahu being the "elephant in the room" and that every one of them has been avoiding all mention of him and is actively going to vote against him in the upcoming elections, Barak said, “I suggest that in a conversation about Ben-Gurion, we don’t also talk about Netanyahu. It diminishes the subject of the conversation.” 

Ashkenazi voiced his agreement with Barak and Yaalon and said, “I would add that also the heads of the Shin Bet and Mossad, except for one, won’t (vote for him) either.” 

It is worth noting that the divide over the Iran nuclear deal runs roughly between Israeli officials, becoming more salient as the US pushes for the deal’s revival.

This dispute has a direct impact today on escalating internal divisions which threaten the occupation’s national security. 

Read more: Bad blood shrouds 'Israel' as top officials fight over Iran deal