Ben Gvir said satisfied Netanyahu following his hardline approach regarding hostages

National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir has told confidants that he is satisfied with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s hardline approach regarding the hostage negotiations.

He claims the premier is falling in line with his policy as opposed to the one being pushed by war cabinet ministers Benny Gantz and Gadi Eisenkot, who have indicated that the issue needs to take priority over the ongoing military campaign, the Kan public broadcaster reports.

The network says the assessment from Ben Gvir came after Netanyahu rejected a new hostage deal proposal drafted by the heads of the Mossad and Shin Bet who wanted to submit the plan during talks in Cairo this week. This decision was made without consulting Gantz and Eisenkot. Netanyahu then went on to bar the Israeli hostage negotiating team from sending anyone to a follow-up meeting in Egypt regarding the negotiations in a decision he made without consulting Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, Gantz or Eisenkot, Kan says.

The decision infuriated all three of them, and Kan reports that the latter two all but threatened to bolt the government, saying during a war cabinet meeting last night that there is no point in the forum continuing to exist if important decisions regarding the hostages are made without them, Kan says.

Channel 12 reports that Netanyahu didn’t present the war cabinet with Mossad chief David B Barnea’s assessment from his Monday meeting in Cairo until hours before the war cabinet met on Thursday night, even though the premier had received the document on Tuesday.

While Gantz and Eisenkot are nearing the end of the road with Netanyahu, they recognize that leaving the government would mean Ben Gvir would be further empowered in what they view would be a major risk to Israel’s national security, Kan adds.