Israeli Defense Minister: Next War Will Be Fought ‘Until Enemy Raises White Flag’

Israel will fight its next war “with full force,” Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman said Tuesday, adding that the Israeli army will not stop fighting the next conflict until its enemy surrenders completely.

“There is no confrontation with half of the power or a quarter of the power, only at full force,” Liberman said. “You don’t stop in the middle – this is the instruction at the moment for the IDF. The next confrontation will be with full force until the other side raises a white flag. It must be a war with the most forceful possible profile,” the defense minister said, according to Hebrew-language newspaper Maariv.

Referring to Israel’s decades-long conflict with the Palestinians, Liberman said he “propose[s] to world powers not to touch the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Whoever wants to help us should forget the over-involvement of the powers that be, on this issue they have no understanding of the meaning of the conflict and they try to force themselves upon us without being asked to.

“I told them, ‘show one case where you succeeded in the world, or when you succeed you should tell me,’ ” he added.

Commenting on the approval of new housing units in West Bank settlements announced by the government on Sunday, Liberman said: “We approved 2500 housing units, 900 of them for marketing. We also approved 866 housing units to the residents of Migron and we also made a decision regarding 20 houses in Beit El,” a reference to two settlements where residents were evacuated by order of Israeli courts and are awaiting compensation in the form of new homes elsewhere.

“All the other [housing units] are in large blocs. I am also for building in Nokdim but we must work according to our priorities,” Liberman, himself a resident of the small community of Nokdim south of Jerusalem, said.

In comments on Arab citizens of northern Israel, Liberman, who in the past called for an exchange of populations between Israel and a future Palestinian state, criticized Israeli Arabs who express support for Israel’s enemies.

“There is no reason for us to continue funding the Triangle,” the defense minister was quoted by Ma’ariv as saying, using the common term for Israeli-Arab cities and villages along the western edge of the West Bank. “I think those who during a time of war come out in support of Hamas and Hezbollah – there is no reason for them to be citizens of Israel,” he said.