(Haaretz).Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday he has complete confidence in Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, a day after Channel 2 reported that French President Nicolas Sarkozy had told him to "get rid" of Lieberman.
"[He] is fully committed to peace and security," said Netanyahu. "Lieberman constitutes an important part of the elected government of the democratic State of Israel."
The premier made the comments before a group of over 20 European ambassadors at Jerusalem's King David hotel. Netanyahu noted that he had consulted with Lieberman prior to a major foreign policy speech he delivered two weeks ago, in which he declared support for a demilitarized Palestinian state.
"Foreign Minister Lieberman will play an important role in implementing the policy presented in the speech," he said.
The second-in-command of Lieberman's Yisrael Beteinu party said Netanyahu should have "banged on the table" in response to Sarkozy's attack on Lieberman.
"If I was the prime minister, and those statements were made in my presence, I would have banged on the table and protested," Landau told Army Radio. "That is how a prime minister who preserves his country's dignity should behave."
