Finance Minister Avigdor Liberman on Sunday blasted Opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu, calling the former premier "scum of the earth".
Liberman said Netanyahu was a pathological liar who has often used such means to target political opponents. Liberman said Netanyahu was behind resurfacing of old rumors that tie the finance minister to a plot to assassination a police investigator decades ago.
A former Liberman aid last week accused the minister of offering him $100,000 to assassinate senior investigators involved in a corruption investigation of the minister.
Liberman spoke at the start of the weekly cabinet meeting, adding that he will discuss the accusations, which he says are false, with the Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara.
“The fact that [Netanyahu] brought up this rumor 20 years later speaks for itself. The man is a pathological liar and cheapskate, who loves money.” Liberman added.
Liberman also said: “These are the ways in which Netanyahu operates. The man is the scum of the earth. The only thing keeping him from power is Avigdor Liberman, and he’s panicking. We are the only right-leaning party which refuses to join a coalition under his leadership. I’m the one separating Netanyahu from power,” Liberman said.
“Netanyahu is attempting to form a new Russian-speaking party on every round of elections. This won’t save him, he’ll keep winning no more than 59 Knesset seats in the polls," he said.
Liberman's Yisrael Beiteinu Party was established in 1999, as a political home for Russian speaking immigrants and is still primarily supported but that portion of the population.
The Likud responded by posting on social media that Liberman is an inciter. "The man who offered to cast away Haredi people is calling Netanyahu names like a common criminal. We hope he won’t offer anyone $100,000 to kill Netanyahu.," the Likud party said in the post. "Liberman can stop hallucinating, the Likud and the former premier are not connected to the disturbing accusations that appeared in the last few days,” the Likud said.
The Attorney General Baharav-Miara will meet with police officials to discuss the accusations against Liberman, but an official investigation against him is not likely to be opened.
The reason, sources say, is the lack of supporting evidence and the fact that the accusations were made during an election campaign.