National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said in a post on X/Twitter on Tuesday that his party had prevented a hostage deal from being achieved on numerous occasions.
“In the past year, through our political power, we succeeded in preventing this deal from moving forward time and time again,” he wrote.
According to Ben-Gvir, an “additional body” has since joined the government “who now supports the deal... so we no longer hold the balance of power.”
Ben-Gvir’s remarks were made as part of his call to Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich to leave the government if a hostage deal would be approved.
העסקה המתגבשת היא נוראית. אני מכיר היטב את פרטיה: 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
— איתמר בן גביר (@itamarbengvir) January 14, 2025
The “additional body” in question is the United Right Party, which increased the size of the coalition from 64 to 68 Knesset members.
Ben-Gvir and his six MKs, therefore, are no longer the difference-makers.
The two ministers together, however, do pose a credible threat to the government.
Combined, they could hamper Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s motivation to see the deal through.
An official said in response to the national security minister’s comments that, “Contrary to Ben-Gvir’s claims, the only party that has managed to prevent a hostage release deal since November 2023 is the Hamas terrorist organization, which has remained obstinate – just as senior American officials have repeatedly stated.
“What has now changed Hamas’s position are Israel’s significant achievements in the war: the crushing of Hezbollah and the elimination of [its former chief Hassan] Nasrallah, direct strikes in Iran, the elimination of [Hamas leader] Yahya Sinwar and the rest of Hamas’s leadership, the intensified military pressure on Hamas in Gaza, and the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Syria,” the official said.
“This is in addition to the significant diplomatic pressure applied by US President-elect Donald Trump on Hamas. Hamas refused to release more than 12 hostages, was unwilling to make a deal as long as Israel remained in Gaza, and rejected Israel’s presence in the Philadelphi Corridor after it took control of it,” the official further said.
Calling on Smotrich to join him, Ben-Gvir said in an earlier statement, “The emerging deal reflects a surrender to Hamas.”
“I call on my colleague, Minister Bezalel Smotrich, to join me and collaborate in opposing the surrender deal to Hamas,” he said.
“The Otzma Yehudit Party alone cannot block the deal. I suggest we go together to the prime minister and inform him that if he approves the deal, we will resign from the government,” Ben-Gvir said.
“Even if we end up in the opposition, we will not bring down the prime minister,” he said.
“However, this collaboration is our only way to prevent the surrender deal, stop this terrible agreement, and ensure that the deaths of hundreds of soldiers were not in vain.”
במשך שנה אני אומר, ״לא עושים עסקתחטופים מסיבות פוליטיות״ וכולם עונים לי שזה לא יכול להיות, ומזעזע, ואיך אני יכול להגיד כזה דבר. היום בן גביר הוציא סרטון ואמר, למצלמה, בלי למצמץ, את האמת הנוראה: ״בשנה האחרונה, באמצעות כוחנו הפוליטי, הצלחנו למנוע מהעסקה הזו לצאת לפועל, פעם אחר…
— יאיר לפיד - Yair Lapid (@yairlapid) January 14, 2025
Hostage deal may be finalized today
KAN News reported on Tuesday that Smotrich was set to meet with Netanyahu amid the hostage deal talks.
According to the report, citing Smotrich’s staff, the minister was holding talks about the consequences of the deal.
These staff members also said that Smotrich’s decision regarding his support or lack thereof of the deal would be void of political considerations.
The finance minister met on Monday and Tuesday with a series of security officials, confidantes, family members of hostages and fallen soldiers, and party members to decide on how he intends to oppose the deal after calling it a “national security catastrophe” on Monday.
As of Tuesday afternoon, Smotrich had not announced his decision.
Opposition leader Yair Lapid responded to Ben-Gvir’s remarks in a post on X/Twitter.
“For a year now, I’ve been saying that you have been preventing a hostage deal from materializing for political gain,” he wrote.
Lapid added that everyone subsequently asked him: “How [he could] say such a thing?”
“Today, Ben-Gvir released a video and relayed, straight to the camera without blinking, this terrible truth.”
Also on Tuesday, MK Ohad Tal, the Religious Zionist Party’s coordinator, said in a speech at an event called the Jerusalem Prayer Breakfast at US President-elect Donald Trump’s estate at Mar-a-Lago that the president “should not support a deal that will leave this total evil of Hamas in power.
“Do not support a deal that will leave a vast majority of hostages behind,” Tal said.
Amichai Stein contributed to this report.