Smotrich: Biden’s proposed deal is a surrender, we will not be a part of it

Israel is not bound by the “offer of surrender” presented by US President Joe Biden late last week, says Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich.

If Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government decides to accept the proposal for a hostage agreement, which was made by the war cabinet “in violation of the law,” then “we will not be part of it,” he says.

“The conduct of the war cabinet is a failure and is dangerous,” Smotrich tells reporters outside a protest tent near the High Court set up by the Heroism Forum, a group representing bereaved families pushing for increased military pressure on Hamas.

“Again and again they repeat the same mistakes, again and again they surrender to Sinwar, time and time again they give up on all the red lines, humiliate the State of Israel, and again the result is that Hamas is entrenched in its position,” Smotrich says. Recent months have shown, he says, that the solution lies “only in increasing military pressure and fire until Hamas surrenders.”

Sending negotiators to Cairo was a mistake, he continues, insisting that the “dangerous proposal that President Biden spoke of was issued by the war cabinet without authority and in violation of the law, and it does not bind the Israeli government and the State of Israel.”

“If, God forbid, the government decides to accept this offer of surrender, we will not be part of it,” he says, pledging to Netanyahu to “stand against you with all our strength and firmness if you choose surrender and defeat.”

In response to a reporter’s question, Smotrich says that like National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, he has not been shown the full contents of the hostage deal outline.

Relatives of hostages who walked from the Knesset to attend the speech challenge Smotrich, saying that Hamas can be defeated later but that their family members need to come home now.

In response, Smotrich says he believes that a deal would actually delay their loved ones’ return.