From the Liveblog of
Monday, September 29, 2025
Golan, Deri and Ohana welcome Trump’s Gaza proposal; Gotliv says Hamas won’t agree to 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"
The Democrats chairman Yair Golan, Shas leader Aryeh Deri, and Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana (Likud), all welcome US President Donald Trump’s announcement of his Gaza peace proposal in Washington, DC.
Posting a photo of Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at a joint press conference on social network X, Ohana writes, “Yes, another league,” referring to a 2019 electoral slogan touting Netanyahu’s warm ties with foreign leaders such as Trump.
In a separate post, Deri expresses his thanks to God “for the success of the summit at the White House” and praises Trump and Netanyahu’s “united stand for Israel’s security.” He expresses hope that the hostages will be returned by next week’s Sukkot holiday.
Golan, a harsh critic of the current government, tweets that his left-wing opposition party will provide the government with support for the plan, a reference to likely opposition within Netanyahu’s right-wing coalition.
“Ending the war, returning the hostages, disarming Hamas, dismantling Hamas’s rule, you’d have to be an absolute hater of Israel to refuse Trump’s plan,” he writes. “We will provide a full safety net for the plan. But we’ll be happy and celebrate only when we see all the hostages back home.”
“What’s the strategy?” asks Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi in a tweet. “Peace through strength, surrender or be destroyed! And of course, a Palestinian state will never be established in the land of our forefathers!”
“The political genius of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has once again proven itself — Netanyahu succeeded in convincing President Trump and the Arab states of the justice of Israel’s path,” declares Economy Minister Nir Barkat.
“I trust Prime Minister Netanyahu that a Palestinian state will never be established,” he adds, thanking Trump as a “true friend.”
Stating that under the plan, the Palestinian Authority “will have no foothold in managing the Strip in any way,” Likud MK Avichay Buaron argues that “this is what absolute victory looks like!” However, fellow Likud lawmaker Tally Gotliv insists that “it is clear as day that the cruel and murderous Hamas will not agree to return all our hostages within 72 hours.”
“Only someone who does not understand the Hamas ethos would believe that Hamas will return all our hostages and agree to the outline,” she writes, adding, “I hope that I am completely wrong this time.”
The Times of Israel Community.