Smotrich appears to say Israel will ‘certainly’ defeat Hamas before next elections

By Sam Sokol 20 December 2025, 10:56 pm

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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"

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich gives a press conference on the state budget, December 4, 2025. (Screenshot from X)

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich appears to say that Israel will destroy Hamas before the next election and criticizes the government for failing to provide Israelis with any decisive victories against its enemies, telling Channel 12’s Meet the Press that Israel is “at a crossroads.”

Hr added that he told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last week that “after two years of war with tremendous achievements, we haven’t closed a single front.”

“We need to hear the crack [a decisive blow] against Hamas and against Hezbollah,” the far-right minister declares. “Now the question is whether at this crossroads we complete the mission in the months that remain for our government and [US] President [Donald] Trump together, and hear the cracks against Hamas and destroy it.”

Israel and Hamas are currently observing a ceasefire that took effect in October and that Trump has depicted as an end to the war.

Asked if Israel intends to destroy Hamas before the elections, amid crosstalk during the interview, Smotrich replies “certainly,” adding “we will also defeat Hezbollah.”

“I think most people don’t believe it’s possible to do this without military force… I will not accept that the IDF has given up its blood and the blood of our soldiers in order to later give Gaza to the Palestinians. And therefore, the result should be that we dismantle Hamas and stay in Gaza,” he continues, adding that “these three arenas, Lebanon, Gaza, and Judea and Samaria, must be on the table.”