Former hostage pointman disputes Smotrich, says war could have ended ‘at least a year earlier’

Former hostage pointman Maj. Gen. (res.) Nitzan Alon hits back at Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who claimed credit this week for the return of all the hostages held by terror groups in the Gaza Strip, saying that the war could have ended “at least a year earlier.”

Smotrich had voted repeatedly throughout the two-year war in the Strip against deals that would have seen the hostages released earlier.

“In Gaza, we fought a long war that could have been ended at least a year earlier. When talking about the return of all the hostages, it should be remembered that around 40 hostages who were abducted alive were killed in captivity, and I do not forget that. In certain cases, with different conduct and decisions, or different negotiations, we might have been able to bring them back alive,” Alon says at the Herzliya Conference at Reichman University.

“Therefore, Minister Smotrich, who opposed some of the agreements at various stages, I do not think can take credit for the return of all the hostages,” he says.

“The cabinet and the political leadership refused earlier comprehensive deals in the name of that ‘total victory,’ which is in fact a falsehood,” Alon adds, referring to a slogan repeated by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other coalition members during the war.