Itamar Ben-Gvir
The prime minister’s Likud Party reportedly tried to persuade MK Zvika Fogel to split from Ben-Gvir’s Otzma Yehudit.
The Israeli national security minister welcomed the return to Israel of Romi Gonen, Doron Steinbrecher and Emily Damari after 471 days in Hamas captivity.
The very thought of negotiating with terrorists represents a strategic disaster. Yet Israel’s willingness to trade hundreds of hardened criminals to get back a handful of hostages is a powerful message of light triumphing over darkness.
The national security minister said his party would rejoin the government if the war is renewed.
Itamar Ben-Gvir said his party would leave the government if the hostages deal, which he termed a “prize for terror,” went through.
The Religious Zionism Party leader is demanding the dismantling of Hamas and renewed fighting in Gaza.
If right-wing discontent over the terms spreads, the prime minister’s seat may depend on forging alliances with his most adamant rivals.
The Otzma Yehudit Party head called on Religious Zionism Party leader Bezalel Smotrich to join him in warning the prime minister that they will exit the coalition if the agreement goes through.
“We will find the abhorrent murderers and settle accounts with them and with all those who aided them. No one will get away,” the prime minister said.
Ben-Gvir and Smotrich will participate in the meeting, which comes amid reported progress on a hostage deal.
The court “is once again making itself sovereign,” National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said.
The vote to tax “Trapped Profits” passed its second and third readings in the Knesset plenum by the narrowest of margins: 59-58.
