[RT] Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman has lambasted the upcoming Middle East peace conference in Paris, labeling it a "scheme" designed to hurt Israel’s reputation and likening it to the infamous trial of French Jewish officer Alfred Dreyfus.
Speaking in the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, on Monday, Lieberman denounced the plans unveiled by the French foreign minister on Thursday to convene some 70 countries in Paris on January 15 for a peace conference devoted to the settlement of the Israel-Palestine conflict.
Lieberman, who has repeatedly made headlines with his controversial statements, compared the conference to the historic trial of Alfred Dreyfus, a French artillery officer of Jewish heritage.
"There is only one difference between what they are planning in Paris [and the Dreyfus affair], last time there was only one Jew on the stand and now all of the people of Israel and the entire state of Israel," Lieberman said, Haaretz reported.
Dreyfus was convicted of treason in 1894 and stood a set of trials which split French society until he was completely cleared of all charges and reinstated in the army in 1906. His trial and conviction has long been seen as a symbol of injustice and anti-Semitiс views held by part of the public and the French media at the time. |