Labor's Bar-Lev slams Liberman for not convening FADC on Syria

MK says Liberman refused to convene c'tee amid Syria tensions; Liberman: "We have no intention of creating unnecessary hysteria."

By JPOST.COM STAFF
Labor MK Omer Bar-Lev 370 (photo credit: Marc Israel Sellem/The Jerusalem Post)
Labor MK Omer Bar-Lev 370
(photo credit: Marc Israel Sellem/The Jerusalem Post)
Labor MK Omer Bar-Lev on Saturday criticized Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee chairman Avigdor Liberman for refusing to call a meeting of the committee to discuss a possible US strike on Syria and its implications on Israel.
Bar-Lev said in a statement that he had asked Liberman to convene the committee for updates on the situation, but Liberman refused. The Labor MK called Liberman’s refusal a severe blow to the functioning of the committee and accused him of contempt for democratic rule in Israel.
“It is inconceivable that the storm raging in the international community which has direct implications for the state of Israel will go over the heads of the committee members who will not receive the basic information needed in order to fulfill their duties,” Bar-Lev said.
“As a public servant, I am obligated to oversee the preparedness of the defense establishment and to voice my opinion to the professional echelon.
Concentrating the information solely among the members of the security cabinet, while the body charged with overseeing them is completely excluded, is outrageous,” he added.
Bar-Lev called Liberman's decision not to convene the committee “hard to understand and questionable.”
Liberman responded that the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee was following the situation in Syria, with the subcommittee set to meet on Sunday, after which a determination will be made whether to convene the entire committee.
"We have no intention of creating unnecessary hysteria in order to satisfy the publicity desires of this or that MK," Liberman stated.
"Unfortunately there are MKs that look for headlines at any cost, even at the expense of national responsibility," he said of Bar-Lev.