From the Liveblog of
Monday, May 5, 2025
Government only does what is best for Israel’s security, Smotrich claims, pushing back against critics
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"
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich pushes back against opposition criticism of the government’s approval of a renewed offensive in the Gaza Strip, declaring that “all our decisions, in all areas, will be made solely through the prism of what is good for the security of the State of Israel and its economy.”
“This is true regarding Gaza, this is true regarding the [Haredi military] conscription law. There will be zero political considerations here,” Smotrich tells reporters ahead of his Religious Zionism party’s weekly faction meeting in the Knesset.
Over the past year and a half, the government has been “resolutely changing Israel’s security doctrine,” but this is a complex process and “repairing decades of damage takes time and requires determination, consistency and patience,” he says.
What is now at stake is the determination of whether “there is a military solution to terrorism” or if Israelis are “doomed to surrender, flee from terrorism, hide behind walls and fences” and go through round after round of fighting “until the next October 7.”
The IDF’s new offensive will mark a significant change, he continues. “No more of the failed method of raids in which IDF soldiers return time after time to places that the IDF has already conquered,” and humanitarian aid makes its way to “the enemy who holds our brothers and sisters, shoots at our soldiers and wants to destroy us.”
“Every truck that reaches Hamas in Gaza prolongs the war, strengthens Hamas, and endangers our fighters,” he says.
Smotrich says that the new offensive justifies his decision to remain in the coalition during the last ceasefire, when fellow far-right party Otzma Yehudit temporarily left the government.
“As I have said again and again since the hostage deal and the last ceasefire: We remained in the government for one purpose only: to ensure that we return to fighting differently until Hamas is destroyed and the hostages are returned,” he says.
The Times of Israel Community.