From the Liveblog of
Tuesday, June 24, 2025
Smotrich after ceasefire with Iran: ‘Now we complete the task in Gaza’
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"
Following the announcement of a ceasefire with Tehran, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, a member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s security cabinet, boasts of Israel’s “crushing victory,” which he says has resulted in the removal of “an immediate existential threat.”
“I would like to express my deepest condolences to the families of those murdered this morning in Beersheba. There is no doubt that this morning leaves a bitter taste, but with all the sorrow, the truth is that we have achieved, thank God, a crushing victory in the campaign against Iran that will be recorded gloriously in the pages of the history of the State of Israel,” says the far-right leader.
“We have removed an immediate existential threat… and severely damaged the Iranian ayatollah regime, including by destroying dozens of targets in Tehran overnight. Now [we turn] with all our strength to Gaza, to complete the task: to destroy Hamas and return our hostages and to ensure, with God’s help, many years of security and growth from strength for the people of Israel.”
In a tweet, coalition lawmaker Dan Illouz of Netanyahu’s Likud party questions whether Israel should halt its attacks on Iran.
“The big question is not whether we dealt with the immediate threats to the State of Israel, but whether my one-year-old son will have to face those same threatening actors a few decades from now,” he tweets.
“There is no doubt that we won this war. But the question is – has the enemy surrendered? Or is this just a round we won on points?”
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