April 30, 2024 (EIRNS)—Israel’s leading “blood and soil” racists, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, threatened today to pull down Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu’s coalition government unless he rejects any ceasefire deal and immediately invades Rafah. Yesterday Netanyahu tried to assure their base of supporters that he is pursuing a partial hostage deal and will still invade Rafah. He arranged to meet with two special groups, the Gvura (families of slain soldiers) and the Tikva (the minority of hostage families who also oppose ending the war in Gaza). He told them: “The idea that we will stop the war before achieving all its aims is not an option. We will enter Rafah and we will eliminate the Hamas battalions there—whether or not there is a deal—in order to achieve total victory.” According to a statement released by the Prime Minister’s Office, the groups urged Netanyahu and National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi to continue the war and resist international pressure to bring it to a conclusion.
Smotrich attacked that: “A government that submits to international pressure, stops the war in the middle, avoids immediate entry into Rafah and returns to Egyptian mediation proposals that leave Hamas existing in any configuration, will at that moment lose its right to exist.” Netanyahu must “finally give the command ‘Rafah now.’”
Then, today, after meeting with his Religious Zionist faction leaders, Smotrich told the press that the hostage deal being negotiated endangers Israeli civilians and that he is “ready to pay the political price” to prevent an “existential threat” to Israel. He explained that while his “heart is torn” by the suffering of the hostages and their families, his “head is thinking at the same time about the future of 9 million Israeli citizens” and how they will be affected by a potential return of Hamas to northern Gaza. He said that “such a deal must be opposed, because its results will be disastrous” and constitute “the surrender of the State of Israel.”
He continued: “We have reached a crossroads where the State of Israel has to choose between decisive victory and defeat in war and humiliation.” The “acceptance of the deal that is on the table means unequivocally waving a white flag and granting victory to Hamas.” Hamas will be “alive, kicking, strengthening and preparing for the next terrible massacre.” The war cabinet is agreeing to “strategic concessions that endanger the State of Israel…. The war cabinet blindly agreed to begin discussing the end of the war before Hamas is defeated and to give up conquering Rafah.”
Separately, Itamar Ben-Gvir had a private meeting with Netanyahu and then released a video statement: “I warned the prime minister [of the consequences] if, God forbid, Israel does not enter Rafah, if, God forbid, we end the war, if, God forbid, there will be a reckless deal. The prime minister heard my words, promised that Israel would go into Rafah, promised that the war would not end, and promised that there would be no reckless deal. I welcome these things. I think the prime minister understands very well what it will mean if these things do not take place.”
