From the Liveblog of
Monday, June 9, 2025
Smotrich urges Haredi parties to back down from threats to topple government
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 calls on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ultra-Orthodox allies to back down from their threats to dissolve the Knesset and trigger new elections, arguing that the State of Israel is in the midst of a war “for our very existence as a free people in our own land.”
Addressing reporters in the Knesset ahead of his Religious Zionism party’s weekly faction meeting, Smotrich asserts that “this is not an ordinary time, and this is certainly not a time for elections.”
“I call on all my partners in the coalition: Put your differences aside. Show responsibility. History will not forgive anyone who dissolves a government and drags the country into elections in the midst of a war — before the hostages have returned and before our goals against Gaza and Iran have been fully achieved.”
The Times of Israel Community.