Responding to the incident, Avigdor Lieberman, the leader of right-wing party Yisrael Beiteinu and Israel‘s former foreign minister, branded the failed arrest a result of the „feeble and stuttering“ government led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
„We are talking about an incident which severely harms the deterrent capacity of the IDF [Israel Defense Force],“ Lieberman said. „The pictures show a soldier being hit by Palestinian women and children and in the end giving up on [arresting] the stone-thrower who started the whole incident, revealing weakness and helplessness.“