Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman on Thursday warned against some of recent statements coming from Lebanon.
In the past few days it has been hinted that the Lebanon-based Hizbullah terror group may create a provocation against Israel in order to divert attention from what is happening in Syria, where President Bashar Assad continues the lethal crackdown on protesters.
Defense Minister Ehud Barak warned on Thursday that sophisticated weapons could be transferred from Syria to Lebanon and to Hizbullah should Assad fall.
Israeli officials have expressed concern in the past that Assad’s fall would have regional consequences that could affect Israel. These include a possibility that Israel’s north could be inundated with Syrian refugees, or that Assad might attack the Jewish state to shift attention from his regime.
Officials have also warned that Syria’s weapons, including alleged chemical and biological ones, could fall into the hands of terrorists, including Hizbullah, which fought a war with Israel in 2006.
Lieberman, who met in New York on Thursday with the ambassadors of member states of the UN Security Council, said, “We hope it will not happen but Israel will be prepared for this possibility as well.”
The foreign minister, who spoke with the ambassadors about the Security Council’s relations with Israel and about the situation in the Middle East, also addressed the reconciliation agreement recently signed between Hamas and Fatah.
“We will not accept a Palestinian government in which Hamas is a partner without Hamas changing its position and as long as it does not recognize Israel’s right to exist and accepts the Quartet’s conditions,” said Lieberman.
He added that the agreement signed in Doha does not contribute to advancing the negotiations with the Palestinian Authority and said it is based solely on the personal interests of PA Chairman Mahoud Abbas and Hamas’ politburo chief Khaled Mashaal.
The agreement signed between Hamas and Fatah calls for Abbas to head an interim government, which will be made up of “independent technocrats.” The new PA interim government is to be presented on February 18 in Cairo.
Lieberman also addressed the Iranian nuclear threat and said that the Iranian regime is the greatest threat to world peace.
“We hope that the latest sanctions will cause the Iranian regime to give up its nuclear program, but if not, Israel is leaving all options open,” he said.
He also said he expects the Security Council to deal with the repeated statements of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who have repeatedly called to wipe Israel off the map.
