Minister says without swift victory in Gaza, there’s ‘no point’ to right-wing government

Sam 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"

Settlements and National Projects Minister Orit Strock attends a Religious Zionism faction meeting at the Knesset in Jerusalem, January 27, 2025. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
Settlements and National Projects Minister Orit Strock attends a Religious Zionism faction meeting at the Knesset in Jerusalem, January 27, 2025. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

Settlement and National Projects Minister Orit Strock (Religious Zionism) declares that there is “no point” to a right-wing government leading Israel if it cannot bring about a swift victory in the Gaza Strip.

Speaking to Israelis wounded in the war at a tent encampment near the Knesset, Strock says her party’s position is that unless the government can lead Israel to victory “not in a time frame of years, but in a time frame of days, of a few weeks,” then “we have nothing to do there,” the Ynet news site reports.

Without a swift victory, “we don’t see any point in having a right-wing government. We are determined that this is the time to lead to victory and nothing else.”

Strock’s comments come less than a day after Religious Zionism chairman and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich sent a message to party lawmakers signaling that he would keep them in the coalition for now, despite disagreeing with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s decision to ramp up humanitarian aid to Gaza.

Strock has previously praised the government as having ushered in a “miracle period” of settlement expansion.

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