From the Liveblog of
Monday, June 30, 2025
Smotrich claims ‘no greater danger’ to Israel than a truce deal to free the hostages
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"
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich dismisses calls to end the war in Gaza, declaring that to do so by way of a ceasefire and hostage release agreement would show Israel’s enemies that “the way to bring Israel to its knees is not missiles, it is not nuclear weapons… [but rather] to kidnap Jews.”
Over the past year Israel “eliminated the Iranian nuclear program,” defeated Hezbollah and “destroyed the Syrian army,” leading to envoys from Damascus “to talk about normalization and peace agreements.”
“But precisely now, at the moment when our enemies have been defeated, at the moment when the entire region is undergoing a strategic shake-up in our favor, precisely now voices of weaknessare being heard. Voices calling for surrender — precisely in the face of our weakest enemy,” Smotrich tells reporters ahead of his Religious Zionism party’s weekly faction meeting in the Knesset.
“We are in the midst of a campaign against a crushed terrorist organization that seeks to recover and continue in its plans to destroy Israel. Hamas has lost control, power. But it has one card in its hands — our kidnapped brothers. And in front of this card there are calls for concession. Calls for an agreement. Calls for a ceasefire,” he says.
He argues that there would be “be no greater danger than this for the future of the State of Israel” than to acquiesce to such calls.
“Because if Israel gives in under pressure from kidnappings, every Jew, everywhere in the world, will be in danger. There will no longer be clear borders. There will be no red lines. Every Jewish child will become a target,” Smotrich insists.
“I call on the prime minister: No more dialogue with murderers, no more negotiations with Nazis. No more deals with the devil, no more freeing murderous terrorists, no stopping and waffling. It is time to continue the momentum of victory over the Iranians for a powerful, sharp and swift war that will destroy the enemy in Gaza and remove the threat it poses to Israel for many years to come.”
The Times of Israel Community.