‘Reward for terrorism’: Far-right minister comes out against hostage deal, but admits she hasn’t seen it

Settlements and National Projects Minister Orit Strock, of the Religious Zionism party, has come out against a potential deal for the release of the hostages held by Hamas in Gaza, calling it “a reward for terrorism and a victory for Hamas,” before admitting shortly after that she has not been privy to the details of the slowly emerging agreement.

In an interview with the Haredi radio station Kol Berama earlier today, Strock asserted that the deal, should it transpire, would lead to the hard-won victories of the war against Hamas in Gaza “going down the drain.”

“Many Israeli soldiers will pay with their lives for withdrawing from Gaza,” she said, “and hundreds of murderous terrorists will pour in like a barrel of gasoline and ignite terror in Judea and Samaria and across the entire world.”

In a now-familiar threat issued by the Religious Zionism party whenever hostage talks, on the release of the 98 hostages — living and dead — held by Hamas and other Gaza terror groups, appear to be ramping up, Strock warns Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu against crossing any “red lines,” and says she “hopes he will not challenge them.”

Despite her insistence that the deal would only cause more harm, Strock reveals hours later that she does not actually know what such a deal would entail.

Doubling down on her stance in a column for Israel National News, Strock writes that while she “very much wants to see the hostages released” she believes that “the price of the deal must be discussed.”

“I don’t yet know the details of the deal that is being formulated, and I would be very happy if it were one that I could support,” she writes. “If only!”

At the same time as she warns against it, Strock does not appear to be overly concerned that any deal will truly materialize, as she says that US President-elect Donald Trump will put a stop to the process when he enters the White House on January 20.

Trump won’t want to be associated with “a victory for the axis of evil over the free world, and won’t support a deal that gives out prizes for murderous terrorism,” she asserts to Kol Berama.

Trump’s special envoy to the region Steve Witkoff told Netanyahu yesterday, however, that Trump expects a deal to be in place by his inauguration, and was said to stress that both sides must show flexibility to get an agreement across the finish line.