Opposition lawmaker Avigdor Liberman on Friday warned that Israelis should stay close to a shelter over the upcoming Sukkot holiday because Iran was quickly recuperating from the two countries’ June war and preparing to launch a surprise attack.
The IDF Home Front Command clarified that there were no changes to its guidelines, and defense officials reportedly slammed the hawkish MK’s comments as irresponsible.
Writing on X, Liberman said, “Whoever thinks the conflict with Iran is over is misled and misleading.”
“The Iranians are already hard at work, strengthening their defenses and military capabilities by the day. They are back at work at the nuclear sites,” wrote Liberman.
“It’s not for nothing that leading countries have reinstated the ‘snapback’ sanctions mechanism on the Iranian regime,” he added, referring to UN sanctions that were reimposed on Iran on Sunday after Britain, France and Germany triggered a mechanism included in the 2015 Iran nuclear deal.
“It seems like this time, the Iranians are trying to surprise us,” wrote Liberman.
He urged Israelis to celebrate cautiously on the coming Sukkot, which starts Monday night and lasts for seven days: “Spend time with family and friends, but be careful and close to protected spaces.”
“This government cannot be trusted,” he added. “Until we’ve fixed their damage, we have only ourselves and the IDF to rely on.”
Senior Israeli officials were later quoted by Hebrew media calling Liberman’s tweet “bizarre and detached from reality.”
Senior defense officials cited by Channel 13 said Liberman’s post could cause a “miscalculation” in which Iran would assume Israel was set to attack it, and would try to preempt Israel’s supposed attack.
Sources cited by the Ynet news site said Israel had not officially responded to Liberman’s comments “so as not to bolster them, but there is no substance to them.”
Liberman, who is head of the Yisrael Beytenu party and a former defense minister, has assailed the US-brokered ceasefire that ended the 12-day Israel-Iran war in June, saying the deal would lead to another war in two to three years under worse conditions for Israel. He also said in July that Iran was “obsessed” with revenge and that Israel should preempt it.
The June war started with Israel’s June 13 opening strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities, missile production sites and military leadership. Iran responded with drone launches and deadly ballistic missile strikes that wreaked havoc in Israeli cities. The war ended on June 24, two days after the US struck three key Iranian nuclear sites.
Iran, whose leaders are sworn to Israel’s destruction, publicly denies seeking nuclear arms, but has enriched uranium to a level beyond what is needed for civilian use, and a short step away from weapons-grade.