Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich met on Wednesday in order to discuss the impending hostage deal with Hamas.
Smotrich’s Religious Zionist Party will oppose the deal in any case, but he has yet to decide whether or not to take further steps, such as threatening to leave the government.
Smotrich is demanding to receive assurances that the IDF will continue operating in Gaza once the deal is completed, in order to achieve the war goals of toppling Hamas’s military and governing capabilities.
This includes a return to fighting at a higher intensity and the IDF taking control over the distribution of humanitarian aid in Gaza.
In the meanwhile, National Security Minister MK Itamar Ben-Gvir applied pressure on “political officials” in an attempt to “prevent an irresponsible deal,” a spokesperson for Ben-Gvir said.
Both Smotrich and Ben-Gvir oppose the bill on the grounds that the concessions Israel is likely to make are unacceptable.
During the first stage of the deal, these are expected to be the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, including terrorists serving life sentences; a partial withdrawal of IDF forces within the Gaza Strip; enabling the return of Palestinian civilians to northern Gaza, albeit based on a security “mechanism” whose details are unknown; and more.
What the deal needs
In order for the deal to pass, it must pass votes in the National Security Cabinet and then in the government plenum. Even if RZP’s and Otzma Yehudit’s ministers vote against the deal, it will still have a majority in both the cabinet and government.
The question remains, however, whether or not the two far-right ministers leave the government, and if so, whether or not they vote to disperse the Knesset and bring about an election.