Bezalel Smotrich, Israel’s far-right Finance Minister, has insisted that he will not support the US-backed ceasefire proposal because it does not guarantee Hamas’ destruction.
Speaking at a Knesset finance committee session which was attended by family members of hostages still held in the Gaza Strip, Smotrich asserted that Hamas was demanding the release of “hundreds of murderers.”
He said that releasing Palestinians held in Israeli detention in return for hostages could lead to “the murder of many Jews.”
“When Hamas demands to end the war while it’s surviving in Gaza, it means that the group is arming itself, digging tunnels, buying rockets and that many Jews could be murdered and taken hostage on another 7 October.”
Bezalel Smotrich
“This is the dilemma we are facing. And it is painful,” he admitted.
He said that the Israeli government could not agree to any move that would amount to “collective suicide”.
“Our responsibility as a leadership is to think about things that are not only here and now, but also what the long-term implications are of every decision we make on the security of the people of Israel, with the future of the Jewish people.
“We will turn over every stone in order to bring back all the abductees, but we will not commit suicide collectively.”
Bezalel Smotrich
The meeting erupted into a shouting match, with one family member of a hostage suggesting that Smotrich should offer to take their place in captivity.
Another, according to a Hebrew news website, said, “You will take responsibility. There are 120 abductees. You will replace 120 Knesset members with 120 abductees.”
In a move potentially ushering in more political instability even as Israel continues its campaign against Hamas inside the Gaza Strip, former military chief, Benny Gantz resigned from Benjamin Netanyahu’s government on Sunday, June 9, 2024.
Gantz had given the Prime Minister a deadline to produce a “day after” proposal for Gaza and has accused him of pushing strategic considerations such as a hostage deal aside for his own political survival.
Captives’ Families Accused Of Playing Politics
Meanwhile, Israeli lawmaker from the United Torah Judaism political alliance, Yitzhak Pindrus, accused families of Israeli captives held in Gaza of playing politics and seeking to overthrow Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Esther Buchshtav, the mother of Israeli captive, Yagev Buchshtav, who was participating in the Knesset Committee on Public Inquiries, responded: “I don’t do politics.”
“You need to apologise to me because I didn’t come to talk politics, I came as the mother of Yagev Buchshtav who was kidnapped,” she added.
Nonetheless, Daniel Lifshitz, grandson of Israeli captive, Oded Lifshitz, commented on the recent Israeli operation in Nuseirat that freed four Israeli captives.
According to Gaza’s Health Ministry, Israeli military’s operation in Nuseirat on Saturday, June 8, 2024, also killed at least 274 Palestinians, including at least 64 children during the day-time assault.
Lifshitz told a news agency that the four captives’ release was a “powerful” development that provided long-overdue closure for their families.
For his part, however, he had not heard news of his grandfather, still held captive in Gaza, for seven months.
Asked about the civilian toll of Israel’s Nuseirat operation, Lifshitz blamed Hamas for hiding captives in the densely populated area, which he said demonstrated their tactic of using civilians as “human shields.”
He also called on the Palestinian group to accept a captive-prisoner exchange and ceasefire deal with Israel “immediately,” saying it would prevent further harm to civilians in Gaza.
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