Israeli Finance Minister, Bezalel Smotrich, has harshly criticised the prisoner exchange deal with Hamas, saying it undermines the achievements of the war and sends dangerous messages to Israel’s enemies. He also called for the dismissal of the Israeli Chief of Staff, Herzi Halevi, due to what he described as “failures to assume responsibility”, stressing the need to replace him with new leadership in preparation for the next phase of the war.
His remarks were made at the beginning of a Religious Zionism party meeting, in which he said he was “concerned” about the repercussions of the deal on “Israel’s security”, noting that it “sets back the achievements of the war”. He also said that “the deal sends a horrific message to all our enemies, that the way to defeat Israel is to kidnap Jews. In addition, terrorists are being released, and all past deals have proven that the vast majority of them resort back to their activities” in resisting the Occupation.
As he headed to his office in the Knesset, Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, was asked whether the war was over, and he replied, “We will achieve all the goals of the war.” Smotrich stressed that he “received a commitment from Netanyahu that Israel will return to the battle to eliminate Hamas.”
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Smotrich stated that the supporters of the Religious Zionism party “are paying the highest price for eliminating Hamas and returning the hostages”. Regarding the protests against his position on the ceasefire agreement and prisoner exchange, he said that “such campaigns have occurred in the past when we opposed the Oslo Accords, the withdrawal from Lebanon, and the Shalit deal.” He stressed that, “we will not allow this to happen again.”
“We saw the crowds in Gaza after the ceasefire, and we saw the terrorists in the streets with their cars. This is a reminder to everyone that the war cannot end as long as this evil, represented by Hamas, continues to exist, because that means in a few months or years, we will face another massacre, new hostages and a new killing campaign,” he said.
The Finance Minister commented on the performance of the IDF Chief of Staff, saying, “Halevi halted plans, and refused to present them for political discussion. Am I attacking the Chief of Staff? No, I respect and appreciate him, but he failed and must make way for someone else. He has not taken responsibility. The results over the past 15 months from a military perspective have been disastrous. He must go. If he does not leave of his own accord, we will have to dismiss him. This is a decision that must be made by the Minister of Defence and the Prime Minister.”
He added, “This is my point of view, and I hope that he and his colleagues will make the decision themselves. They deserve to leave with honour after years of distinguished service, and not in a disrespectful manner. But I believe that we will have no other choice. We cannot go back to the war using the same models as before, and this requires new leadership that believes in this.”
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