Lieberman outraged over alleged Sarkozy call to "get rid" of him

Jun 30, 2009, 7:48 GMT

Jerusalem - An alleged remark by French President Nicolas Sarkozy in which he urged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to 'get rid of' ultra-nationalist Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman has sparked outrage in Israel.

'If the remarks are correct and were indeed said by the president, then the intervention by the president of a respectable democratic state in the affairs of another democratic state is grave and unacceptable,' a statement from Lieberman's office said.

The statement urged all political groupings in Israel to 'condemn this blunt meddling of a foreign country in our internal affairs.'

Israel's Channel 2 reported late Monday that Sarkozy made the comment in a closed meeting with Netanyahu in Paris last week.

Two cabinet ministers of Netanyahu's hardline Likud party and a lawmaker of the dovish coalition Labour Party were also said to have been present at the meeting and one of them could have leaked the conversation, which was reported by the Israeli television channel.

According to Channel 2, Sarkozy, in Wednesday's meeting in Paris, told Netanyahu of Lieberman that 'you need to get rid of this man. You need to remove him from this position.'

Sarkozy urged Netanyahu to replace the bellicose Lieberman with Livni, the foreign minister in the previous Israeli government, who refused to join the Netanyahu coalition because of differences over how to pursue the peace process with the Palestinians. Livni is a centrist, but a staunch believer in the two-state solution to the conflict.

Sarkozy said that with Livni, leader of the centrist Kadima party, and Defence Minister Ehud Barak, of the centre-left Labour Party, in the government, Netanyahu could 'make history.'

Netanyahu said that Lieberman sounded different in private conversations, and Sarkozy then replied that 'in private talks Jean-Marie Le Pen is also a nice person.'

When Netanyahu protested the comparison, Sarkozy conceded that Lieberman and Le Pen were not the same.

Netanyahu's spokesman, Mark Regev, would not confirm nor deny the reported conversation.

A senior government official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told the German Press Agency dpa Tuesday that 'We don't publicly go into the prime minister's conversations with foreign leaders and of course the prime minister has full confidence in the foreign minister.'

Israeli Foreign Ministry Spokesman Yigal Palmor said he had no comment to add to the statement issued by Lieberman's personal spokesman.

A spokesman for The Elysée Palace Tuesday said only that it did not comment in principle on conversations between state leaders.