A self-claimed former adviser of Finance Minister Avigdor Liberman, Yossi Kamisa, accused the minister on Wednesday of offering him $100,000 to assassinate an assistant-chief Israel Police officer. Liberman has pointedly denied the claims.
In a Facebook post from Thursday evening, Liberman wrote, "Obviously we are talking about a far-fetched claim by a man whose intentions are miles and miles away from being pure. This is a malicious act against me and my party," adding that he will sue the man for slander.
The case is currently being taken up by the prosecution, according to N12.
What have both Liberman and Kamisa claimed?
Though Kamisa claimed he was a direct adviser to Liberman, the Finance Minister countered that Kamisa had never actually been his direct adviser but was a party activist during its early days, and that he had never been appointed to a position within it.
"Our first conversation happened nearly two decades ago," added Liberman.
Kamisa had previously worked for the police, Liberman added. "In that case, why did he never submit a complaint to the police if he received such an offer?" Liberman further stated that the efforts to slander him are coming from opposition head Benjamin Netanyahu.
According to Kamisa's claims, Liberman added, a complaint was in fact submitted to the police, but not 20 years ago, rather a month ago, "conveniently, after the Knesset disbanded."
"I am directing my claims towards Israel's Attorney-General [Gali Baharav-Miara]: You have had information on your desk for over a month now pointing to the fact that a politician offered money in exchange for the assassination of a police officer," Kamisa tweeted.
"Bring Liberman and me in for a polygraph test and ask: Did he offer me $100,000 to kill a police officer?"
Yossi Kamisa
"It cannot be that such a disturbing claim has been made against a man of such high ranking in Israel and that it will go quietly," Likud MK Shlomo Kari weighed in.
Authorities have called Kamisa's claims as "weird, bordering on the absurd," according to N12, and don't believe a case will be opened by the Baharav-Miara.
Walla contributed to this report.