Feature: Avigdor Liberman Shares Heartbreaking Secret

In a poignant column for Srugim, former Defense Minister and Yisrael Beytenu leader Avigdor Liberman reflects on the 20th anniversary of Israel’s 2005 Gaza Disengagement, calling it a “moment the heart refuses to forget.” Liberman, who protested the move at Gush Katif, recounts the pain of watching bulldozers raze vibrant communities, leaving streets once alive with children and synagogues desolate.

“I couldn’t believe a Likud government would abandon Gush Katif’s residents and destroy their homes,” Liberman writes, recalling his fierce opposition, which cost him his cabinet post when then-Prime Minister Ariel Sharon fired him on June 4, 2004. He argues the unilateral withdrawal was a “dangerous illusion,” warning it would hand Gaza to terror groups, turning it into a “stockpile of rockets and tunnels” and the south into a constant battlefront. His warnings proved prescient, as Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack points to the disengagement’s fallout.

Liberman slams the current leadership, noting that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Israel Katz, and National Security Council head Tzachi Hanegbi, all key figures today, supported the disengagement. Netanyahu even declared in the Knesset he’d back it in a referendum. Liberman accuses them of ignoring his 2016 warnings about Hamas’s invasion plans and funding the group with billions from Qatar for “quiet,” a policy he opposed. “You can’t secure a nation without understanding your enemy’s true intentions,” he writes, arguing Hamas seeks Israel’s destruction, not peace.

The disengagement, Liberman says, shattered trust between Israel and its citizens, a wound unhealed by slogans. He calls for leadership that learns from the past, prioritizes security over short-term calm, and acts with resolve to protect citizens without political compromise.