From the Liveblog of
Thursday, November 28, 2024
Ben Gvir urges Netanyahu to keep fighting in Lebanon, reoccupy Gaza
Sam Sokol is the Times of Israel's political correspondent. 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"
Speaking at a cornerstone laying ceremony for a new police station in the southern city of Sderot, National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir calls on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to continue fighting in Lebanon despite the ceasefire that went into effect on Wednesday.
Stating that Hezbollah has violated the ceasefire “time and again,” Ben Gvir argues that “we must not stop, certainly here in the south as well.”
“We have a historic opportunity to bring peace for decades. We have a historic opportunity to collapse Hamas. We have a historic opportunity to restore deterrence, reoccupy the Gaza Strip and encourage voluntary immigration of Israel’s enemies. This is what will bring peace to the south,” he says.
Ben Gvir’s comments come only days after Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich told a conference organized by the Yesha Council, an umbrella group representing Israeli municipalities in the West Bank, that “it is possible to create a situation where Gaza’s population will be reduced to half its current size in two years” through encouraging emigration.
