Ben Gvir snaps back at Gallant for ‘going soft’ on Hamas, urges war against Hezbollah

National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir is hitting back at critics from within the governing coalition after he came under fire for declaring that Jews could pray on the Temple Mount, accusing Defense Minister Yoav Gallant of failing to sufficiently take on the Hamas or Hezbollah terror groups.

“Gallant went soft when faced with Hamas and is dragging Israel into a feckless deal,” he says, referring to talks toward an agreement to free hostages held in Gaza in exchange for a halt to fighting in the enclave.

“Gallant has chosen to keep on with destructive policies of the defeatist [military] conception against Hezbollah in the north as well,” he writes, calling for Israel to launch a “decisive war” against the Lebanese terror group.

Earlier, a statement attributed to “those around Ben Gvir” and carried by Hebrew media accused Interior Minister Moshe Arbel of being a “radical leftist” who constantly sucks up to “the left, Arabs, the judicial system. and in the case of the Temple Mount, to Hamas and the Waqf.”

Gallant and Arbel had warned that Ben Gvir’s comments could endanger Israel, with the latter calling for him to be sacked.