Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke on Saturday with Religious Zionism chairman, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, and Otzma Yehudit chairman, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, before they issued their responses to Biden’s speech and the updated hostage return plan.
According to sources briefed on the conversation, Netanyahu asked them “not to be hasty” in their responses. About an hour and a half later, both Ben-Gvir and Smotrich issued statements explicitly threatening to dissolve the government if the plan was accepted.
“I just spoke with the prime minister and made it clear to him that I will not be part of a government that agrees to the proposed plan and ends the war without destroying Hamas and returning all the hostages,” Smotrich said in a statement he released.
Leaders firm against deal
“We will not agree to end the war before destroying Hamas, severely compromising the achievements of the war so far by withdrawing the IDF and allowing Gazans to return to the northern Gaza Strip or to the wholesale release of terrorists who might return to murder Jews,” Smotrich stated.
“We demand the continuation of the fighting until Hamas is destroyed and all the hostages are returned, the creation of a completely different security reality in Gaza and Lebanon, the return of all residents to their homes in the north and south, and massive investment in the accelerated development of these regions,” Smotrich continued.
Ben Gvir strongly opposed the deal and stated, “The deal, as its details were published today, means the end of the war and abandoning the goal of crushing Hamas. Agreeing to such a deal is not absolute victory but absolute defeat. We will not allow the war to end without the complete elimination of Hamas.”
He added a threat as he stated, “If the prime minister implements the dubious deal under the conditions published today, which imply the end of the war and the abandonment of the goal of crushing Hamas, Otzma Yehudit will dismantle the government.”
