Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich (Religious Zionists) voiced opposition on Saturday to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s decision to halt offensive operations in Gaza to conduct negotiations with Hamas.
“The Prime Minister’s decision to stop the offensive in Gaza and, for the first time, to conduct negotiations not under fire is a severe mistake.”
Smotrich called the decision “a certain recipe for Hamas to waste time and for Israel’s position to be worn down, both regarding the release of hostages in one wave within 72 hours and concerning the main goal of the war of eliminating Hamas and the full demobilization of Gaza.”
Otzma Yehudit Chairman National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir stated: “Along with the objective to free the hostages, which is in itself important, the main war objective, which came from the October 7th Massacre that was perpetrated by the Hamas monsters, is that the Hamas terror organization can not continue to exist. It must be destroyed.”
“Therefore, in light of the recent developments, I and the Otzma Yehudit faction notified the Prime Minister clearly: if, after the release of all the hostages, the Hamas terror organization continues to exist, Otzma Yehudit will no longer be part of the government. We will not be part of the national defeat, which would be an eternal disgrace, or become a ticking time bomb until the next massacre. There is no doubt that we will rejoice like everyone else to see all the hostages return. With this, we can’t at all agree to a scenario where a terror organization that brought the worst disaster is reborn. We will in no way be part of this.”
Member of the Security Cabinet, Minister Orit Strok (Religious Zionists), commented on details of the hostage-release plan: “First and foremost, it is important to ensure that Hamas meets the timetable set by the plan and releases all our hostages within 72 hours without any delay in negotiations. Any stalling must immediately lead to the resumption of the assault on Gaza. We have many questions, objections, and demands, but this comes first.”
MK Amit Halevi (Likud), a member of the Foreign Affairs and Security Committee from Likud, responded to the Trump plan and the proposed halt to the fighting: “Stopping IDF combat operations in Gaza today reflects a profound misunderstanding of Hamas. It will endanger IDF soldiers, who will become static and much more exposed to snipers and explosive devices from Hamas’s neo-Nazi elements.”
“The first principle — if one is negotiating with a terrorist organization at all — is that it must be under heavy fire, because that is the most effective form of leverage in Middle Eastern negotiations. The fact that even this rule was broken under the atomic pressure of President Trump bodes very ill for the negotiations in the coming days, and if, God forbid, an agreement is completed on the basis of the same Western misconception, then its results will be disastrous for us,” Halevi said.