Far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said Monday that his party, HaTzionout HaDatit, “will not be part of” the hostage ceasefire deal, which he calls a “catastrophe for Israeli security.
“We will not be part of this surrender agreement which will result in the release of terrorists, the end of the war and the forgetting of bloody victories and the abandonment of many hostages,” Smotrich said by press release.
“It is more than ever time to continue, with all our strength, to occupy and cleanse the entire Gaza Strip, finally regain control of humanitarian aid left in the hands of Hamas and open the gates of hell on Gaza until the full surrender of Hamas and the release of all hostages. »
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A person close to the government told the Walla media on Sunday that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was currently trying to find out whether Smotrich risked resigning from the government if an agreement was reached to release the hostages in exchange for the release of Hundreds of Palestinian terrorists imprisoned in Israel on terrorism charges.
According to this same source, the Prime Minister thinks that the probability is strong that the far-right Minister of Internal Security, Itamar Ben-Gvir, will also leave the government in the event of an agreement on the hostages; Also, Netanyahu would try to convince Smotrich to vote against the agreement without leaving the coalition.
Ofir Angrest (center), brother of hostage Matan Angrest, speaks during a meeting of the Constitution, Law and Justice Committee at the Knesset in Jerusalem, November 18, 2024. (Credit: Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
The brother of a hostage held in Gaza criticized Smotrich’s comments. “I am here before you to show you who you are sacrificing – Sergeant Matan Angrest, kidnapped and seriously injured, who has lost all his friends and whom you are executing,” Ofir Angrest told Smotrich during a meeting of the Knesset Finance Committee, according to the Ynet news site.
“Every day, another family loses a son and is broken. Now is the time to do everything possible to obtain the release of my brother and all the hostages,” he continued.
Matan Angrest was taken hostage in Nahal Oz during the October 7, 2023 pogrom led by Hamas and its civilian accomplices.
The leader of the Blue and White party, Benny Gantz, for his part, indicated that his party fully supported the proposed ceasefire agreement on the hostages and reacted to the remarks of the Minister of Finance.
“Reaching an agreement to release our hostages is both a supreme value and a strategic necessity – failure to release and abandon them would be a national catastrophe,” Gantz said in a statement. “Blue and White will give its full political support to this liberation agreement,” he added.
-Minister of Settlements and National Projects Orit Strouk takes part in a demonstration by families of Israeli soldiers killed in the Gaza Strip calling for the continuation of the war, in front of the Prime Minister’s office in Jerusalem, May 5, 2024. ( Credit: Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
On Sunday, the Minister of Settlements and National Projects, Orit Strouk, member of the HaTzionout HaDatit party, also said she was opposed to the conclusion of an agreement for the release of hostages held by Hamas in Gaza, which she described as “a reward for terrorism and a victory for Hamas”, before admitting to knowing nothing of the details of a draft agreement still in gestation.
In an interview with haredi radio station Kol Berama the same day, Strouk said the deal, if reached, would “empty the substance” of hard-won victories in the war against Hamas in Gaza. .
“Many Israeli soldiers will die if we withdraw from Gaza,” she said, “and hundreds of murderous terrorists, like a barrel of gasoline, will set fires and spread terror in Judea and Samaria and elsewhere in the country. the world. »
The Hatzionut HaDatit party raises this threat very regularly, in fact as soon as the talks for the release of the 98 hostages – alive or dead – held by Hamas and other terrorist groups in Gaza seem about to begin. This time, Strouk warned Netanyahu not to cross the “limits” and said “hope he doesn’t.”
Despite her insistence that the deal would only cause more problems, Strouk admitted hours later that she didn’t really know what such a deal would entail.
In a column for Israel National News, Strouk wrote that although she “sincerely desires the release of the hostages,” she believed that “the implications of this agreement must be examined.”
“I do not yet know the details of the agreement currently in development, and I would be very happy to be able to support it,” she wrote. “I really hope so!” »
However, Strouk doesn’t seem too concerned about the prospect of such a deal as she says US President-elect Donald Trump will end the process when he enters the White House on January 20.
Trump will not want to be associated with “a victory for the axis of evil over the free world and he will not support a deal that rewards murderous terrorism,” she told Kol Berama.
However, Trump’s special envoy to the region, Steve Witkoff, told Netanyahu on Sunday that Trump wanted a deal to be reached by his inauguration on January 20: he even added that both sides needed to demonstrate flexibility to reach an agreement.
