Israeli far-right minister Ben-Gvir threatened that he would resign if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accepts the Gaza ceasefire deal, likely to be accepted on Tuesday (Jan 14). Ben-Gvir believes that the acceptance would be equivalent to "surrendering" to Hamas. Instead, Ben-Gvir called on Netanyahu to "come to his senses" and take steps that would lead to the defeat of the Palestinian group.
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Ben-Gvir took to the social media platform X and posted a video of himself calling out the Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich to join him in speaking against the "terrible deal being set up."
Ben-Gvir added in his statement that there is a need to inform Netanyahu that "we will leave the government" if the Gaza ceasefire deal is concluded.
"I know the details of it well: it includes the release of hundreds of murderous terrorists from prisons, the return of Gazans, including thousands of terrorists, to the northern Gaza Strip, the withdrawal of the IDF from the Netzarim axis, and the return of the threat to the residents of the encirclement—thus effectively erasing the war achievements that have been achieved with much blood by our fighters, so far, in the Gaza Strip," Ben-Gvir wrote in his statement on X.
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העסקה המתגבשת היא נוראית. אני מכיר היטב את פרטיה:
— איתמר בן גביר (@itamarbengvir) January 14, 2025
היא כוללת שחרור מאות מחבלים רוצחים מבתי הכלא, חזרת עזתים בהם אלפי מחבלים לצפון הרצועה, מסיגה את צה"ל מציר נצרים, ומחזירה את האיום על תושבי העוטף - ובכך למעשה מוחקת את הישגי המלחמה שהושגו בדם רב של לוחמינו, עד כה, ברצועת עזה.
לא… pic.twitter.com/8bwuxB8uuc
He further claimed that the deal "does not lead" to the release of all Israeli hostages. He said that "it seals the fate of the remaining hostages who are not included in the deal to death".
The Israeli minister said that over the past years, Israel has managed to prevent the ceasefire deal from being implemented using its "political power" and "time after time". But over the years, "additional elements" have been added to the Israeli government that now support the deal and "no longer constitute a balancing act".
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"This means that the Prime Minister will refrain from signing the deal only if the force opposing it is large enough to prevent him from doing so," Ben-Gvir added.
"Even if we are in opposition, we will not bring down Netanyahu, but this move is our only chance to prevent its implementation, and in fact to prevent the surrender of the State of Israel to Hamas, after more than a year of bloody war, in which over 400 IDF soldiers fell in the Gaza Strip, and to ensure that their deaths will not be in vain," the post added.
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(With inputs from agencies)