Lieberman calls for Abbas 'assassination'

Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman has compared his Palestinian counterpart Riad al-Maliki to infamous Nazi Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels. Lieberman made the harsh statements following the Palestinian foreign minister's speech at the Non-Aligned Movement Summit in Tehran earlier this week. At a panel on Tuesday, Maliki said: "Recently, we have witnessed an intense attack by the rightist government and Israeli settlements against Palestinian lands and symbols, including against President Mahmoud Abbas through direct incitement to kill him by the occupation's foreign minister – extremist settler Lieberman." He further noted the "dangerous escalation in settlement activity and the Judaisation of the occupied Palestinian territories, especially in east Jerusalem." Maliki called on the member states to boycott Lieberman. Speaking at a diplomatic conference at the Tel Aviv University on Thursday, Lieberman said, "Had the speech been signed under the name Goebbels, no one would have known the difference. Maliki is accusing Israel of systematic ethnic cleansing. "When one talks about a partner, one needs to understand what kind of partner we're talking about. This is the Palestinian foreign minister who is considered a moderate." Israeli network Channel 10 also quoted Lieberman as calling for the "assassination" of President Abbas or a siege upon his return to Ramallah. Lieberman said in a brief interview: "When Abbas attends the terrorism summit in Iran, this will be a horrible day in the history of Israel. It is shame on humanity that Abbas visits this terrorist state, and therefore we must take some escalatory procedures that may ends his life and puts him under siege by all means and trends." President Abbas had arrived on Wednesday to Tehran to attend the Non-Aligned Movement summit, despite US pressure. This is his first visit since his election in 2006 as President of the Palestinian Authority. The relationship between the Palestinian Authority and Tehran has often been strained because of differences in political attitudes. Lieberman has recently escalated his rhetoric against President Abbas; accusing him of "terrorism". The Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organisation responded to the “fierce attack" launched by Lieberman against President Abbas and the Palestinian leadership. A statement issued by the PLO two days ago said: "The fierce attack launched by the Foreign Minister of Binyamin Netanyahu's government, Avigdor Lieberman, against the Palestinian leadership, led by President Mahmoud Abbas, stresses that the campaign is led by the Israeli government, not Lieberman himself." The PLO added in its statement: "We recognise that these outrageous political statements from a person with diplomatic tasks are in total harmony with what Israeli settlers do daily on Palestinian land, under political cover that Lieberman and the Israeli government provide for this attack. This is unprecedented for Israeli rightists, under the administration of the Netanyahu government.” On Thursday, Lieberman accused the Palestinian president of  practicing "diplomatic terrorism" against Israel, considering him "as dangerous as Hamas". This was Lieberman’s second personal attack on the Palestinian President in a matter of days after he called international Quartet to impose elections on the Palestinian Authority to overthrow Abbas in order to revive the stalled peace process. Lieberman also addressed the IAEA report issued earlier on Thursday which says that Iran continues to conceal its development of nuclear weapons. "The report discusses severe violations of Iran's commitments." He further added, "I would not ignore this on the day the summit convenes. If this is the international community, what are we meant to understand? How are we supposed to count on the international community's security guarantees? "What is going on in Iran is a march of folly and hypocrisy the likes of which were not seen since the 1930s with threats to destroy Israel in the background."