Smotrich: Hostage deal would be ‘catastrophe for national security,’ says he won’t be part of it

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich announces a compensation plan for evacuees returning to their homes in northern Israel, at a press conference on January 5, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich announces a compensation plan for evacuees returning to their homes in northern Israel, at a press conference on January 5, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich says his Religious Zionism party “will not be part of” the emerging hostage-ceasefire deal, which he calls a “catastrophe for Israel’s national security.”

“We will not be part of a surrender deal that would include releasing terrorists, stopping the war and dissolving the achievements that were bought with much blood, and abandoning many hostages,” Smotrich says in a statement.

“This is the time to continue with all our might, to occupy and cleanse the entire Strip, to finally take control of humanitarian aid from Hamas, and to open the gates of hell on Gaza until Hamas surrenders completely and all the hostages are returned.”

A political source told the Walla news outlet yesterday that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was trying to assess if Smotrich would resign from the government if there were to be a deal that would see hundreds of terror convicts freed from Israeli prisons in exchange for hostages.

The report says the premier believes there’s a high probability far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir will quit the government if there is a hostage deal, so Netanyahu is hoping to convince Smotrich to, at most, vote against an agreement without quitting the coalition.

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