From the Liveblog of
Tuesday, September 30, 2025
Bennett says Trump plan ‘difficult but necessary’ after failure to beat Hamas, free hostages
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleSam 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"
Former prime minister Naftali Bennett says US President Donald Trump’s plan for ending the war in Gaza and releasing the hostages is “a difficult, but necessary step” in light of the current government’s failure to defeat Hamas.
In a Hebrew-language statement that includes an English-language “thank you” to Trump, Bennett laments the fact that Israel is ending the war with an apology to “the sponsors of the massacre who are in Qatar” and the release of “many hundreds of Sinwar-like murderous terrorists,” referring to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s phone call to Doha to apologize for a strike on Hamas leaders there and the expected release of Palestinian terror convicts in exchange for hostages.
“This is a difficult, but necessary step after the government failed to achieve Hamas’s defeat in Gaza and or the return of the hostages who are languishing in captivity and the price we are paying and will continue to pay in human lives is too heavy to bear,” he writes on X.
“The difficult chapter our country is going through must be closed with the return of our sons and daughters home, and with the transition to a new chapter of unity and rebuilding of the State of Israel,” he adds, calling for a state commission of inquiry into October 7.
In English, Bennett call Trump “a true friend to Israel and the Jewish nation.”
A right-wing leader who led a broad government coalition for nearly a year in 2021 and 2022, Bennett is now planning to re-enter politics and challenge Netanyahu for the premiership, with polls showing him as a potentially potent candidate.
The Times of Israel Community.