Finance Minister Avigdor Liberman said Sunday opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu's political tactics are akin to those used by Nazi-era propagandists, as well as Joseph Stalin.
Liberman made the comments to reporters as he made his way into the weekly cabinet meeting.
The minister said Netanyahu understands that support for Liberman's Yisrael Beytenu party is likely to keep him out of power, hence he "will do everything he can to hurt us."
"They are pressuring the attorney general to open an investigation into ridiculous allegations against me, and weaponizing them against our party," he said.
Last week Liberman called Netanyahu 'scum of the earth' and accused him of promoting allegations that the finance minister ordered the assassination of a senior member of the police who was investigating him for corruption.
"I expect the attorney general to reject the matter out of hand and renounce the allegations as lies without merit," he said.
After the allegations were made by a former aid to the minister, Liberman called them "blood libel."
"A person 'remembers' a supposed event after 20 years and comes out in public before the elections. These are absurd allegations, which are repeated millions of times until people become accustomed to them," he said.
Netanyahu's Likud party said in response that Liberman was inciting due to panic ahead of the November 1 elections. "His words are false, outrageous and are an affront to the memory of the Holocaust," the Likud said in a statement.
"We demand Prime Minister Yair Lapid and Defense Minister Benny Gantz to immediately condemn Liberman's abhorrent comments," the party said.
The defense minister issued a statement shortly after, condemning Liberman's comparison. "There is a red line that must not be crossed," he said. "I highly value Liberman, but condemn his words and the unacceptable comparison."
Lapid later also issued a condemnation, saying Holocaust should be left outside of the political "incitement machine."
"Any statement that equates or implies this, only harms the memory of the Holocaust and our social unity."
Liberman began his political career as Netanyahu's close ally after serving as his chief of staff during the Likud leader's first term in office in the 1990s. The two parted ways and as of 2018, Liberman has been an outspoken opponent of the former prime minister.