Ben Gvir says Israel close to ‘decisive victory,’ urges Netanyahu to break with Trump on ceasefire

By Sam Sokol 22 June 2026, 3:37 pm

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Sam Sokol is a former political correspondent at The Times of Israel. He was previously a reporter for the Jerusalem Post, Jewish Telegraphic Agency and Haaretz. He is the author of "Putin’s Hybrid War and the Jews"

National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir leads an Otzma Yehudit faction meeting at the Knesset, in Jerusalem on June 22, 2026. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

After paying “heavy prices” over the past several years of war, “we have reached the point closest to a decisive victory,” declares National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, arguing against what he described as “weak ceasefires.”

“The equation must be very simple and clear: the State of Israel must be safe. If Israel is not safe, Beirut will look like Beit Hanoun. The State of Israel must act out of a clear principle. We appreciate our friends. We love President Trump. But first and foremost, the soldiers of Israel. First of all our fighters, first of all our residents,” Ben Gvir says at his Otzma Yehudit party’s weekly faction meeting in the Knesset.

“If Lebanon allows its territory to be turned into a terror base against the State of Israel, Beirut needs to understand that it cannot continue to conduct business as usual. Whoever chooses war against Israel must bear the consequences. My position is that we cannot tolerate a single tear from an Israeli mother, even if there are tears from a thousand Lebanese mothers, and we need to keep going.”

Asked about US Vice President JD Vance’s criticism of him for panning the US-Iran ceasefire deal, Ben Gvir says that while he appreciated Vance and US President Trump, there have been multiple “cases where the Americans were not with us, and despite that, we won.”

“I appreciate the vice president, but I am more committed to our soldiers and our residents. They are the ones we are committed to. I want to say thank you to the Americans, but our red line is harming soldiers and harming civilians.”

According to Ben Gvir, “Netanyahu needs to go to President Trump, embrace him, and say to him: ‘President Trump, thank you, but what can we do, we cannot fulfill this agreement. You wouldn’t tolerate having Nazis on your border. You wouldn’t tolerate your soldiers being attacked and being limited in terms of the response. Our response must be 100 percent.'”