National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir has issued an urgent appeal to government members to reject the hostage-ceasefire agreement with Hamas ratified by the security cabinet earlier today.
In a video statement, Ben Gvir expressed deep concerns about the terms of the agreement, particularly the planned release of Palestinian security prisoners in exchange for hostages taken by Hamas during the October 7, 2023, attacks.
“Everyone knows that these terrorists will try to harm again, try to kill again,” he warned.
Ben Gvir also reaffirmed his opposition through political action, saying that his far-right Otzma Yehudit party will leave the coalition if the deal proceeds.
“I call on my friends in the Likud and Religious Zionism [parties]: it is not yet too late. We still have the cabinet meeting. We can stop this deal. Join me; we can stop it,” he urged.
The full cabinet is set to convene shortly for a final discussion on the agreement, which mediators announced on Wednesday.
The deal is scheduled to take effect at 12:15 p.m. on Sunday, with the first group of 33 hostages expected to be released by 4 p.m. as part of the initial phase of the ceasefire.
It’s not worth noting that Ben Gvir attended the Security Council meeting, as seen in the photo below, and made the video plea for the full Knesset to reject the deal following it.
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2 Responses
Its ‘worth noting’ that at the time of the Gilad Shalit deal, R Elyashiv ZTL and R Ovadia ZTL and others were very supportive of the deal and said it’s pikuach nefesh to redeem a jewish hostage at all costs. Difficult to stomach, sure, but I think we’d be far better off if the Govt took council and followed direction of the gedolim, not individual feels of politicians or protesters in the street.
My question for Ben gvir.
Does it matter if the released terrorists will do it again or if some other terrorists will do it again? I think not. So since there still another 2 million terrorists in Gaza anyway it doesn’t really make a difference. So we’ll take the deal that gets us 33 hostages