“In order to free the hostages, Israel must reoccupy northern Gaza,” Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich told reporters Monday in the Knesset, ahead of the weekly meeting of factions of his ultra-nationalist HaTzionout HaDatit party.
“To recover the hostages, we must occupy the entire northern Gaza Strip and inform the [groupe terroriste palestinien du] Hamas unequivocally that, if the hostages are not returned, we will apply Israeli sovereignty there and stay there forever,” Smotrich said, asserting that this threat would give Hamas the motivation to keep the hostages alive.
He added that a hostage deal that included Israel agreeing to end the war would amount to a surrender to Hamas.
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Smotrich called on the attorney general to resign, accusing her of disrespecting Israeli democracy.
According to him, Gali Baharav-Miara “remains doing nothing” in the face of incitement to violence against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“Instead of respecting Israeli democracy and the will of the people and their elected representatives, and allowing government policy to be implemented in accordance with the law, Gali Baharav-Miara opposed an effort by the government seeking to force the retirement of ministerial legal advisers who have served for more than seven years. »
Baharav-Miara’s objections were based on a desire “to protect his friends and extract millions from them at the expense of the citizens of Israel,” Smotrich added.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during the Council of Ministers in Jerusalem, November 1, 2024; Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara during the farewell ceremony for Acting Chief Justice Uzi Vogelman at the Supreme Court in Jerusalem, October 1, 2024. (Amos Ben Gershom/GPO; Oren Ben Hakoon /POOL)
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