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Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich. Bezalel Smotrich Facebook page

Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich’s Religious Zionism party is threatening to resign from the government, should it approve the ceasefire deal. “In all likelihood, we will resign from the government,” MK Zvi Sukkot told Kan radio this morning, reported Times of Israel, adding that the Religious Zionism party is “here to change the DNA of the State of Israel,” not just to fill seats in the coalition.

Not long afterwards, {Times of Israel cited Hebrew media reporting that the Religious Zionism party was to meet this morning to decide on its future in the governing coalition, ahead of an expected cabinet vote on the hostage-ceasefire deal.

Aside from the supposed “last-minute crisis” caused by Hamas, Netanyahu reportedly will not convene the cabinet until Smotrich gives him an answer as to whether his party will resign in protest.

In an analysis published yesterday, Haaretz columnist Ravit Hecht argues that Smotrich is under tremendous pressure from within his party to leave the government over the ceasefire/hostage release deal. Religious Zionism “has been experiencing a tumultuous period since U.S. President-elect Donald Trump decided to push hard towards a deal to release hostages held by Hamas and end the war in Gaza. This turmoil was not triggered by the absurd statement by far-right peer Itamar Ben-Gvir, who called for Smotrich to join him in toppling the government if the deal goes through,” Hecht writes.

Hecht dismisses Ben-Gvir’s threat to leave the government as a populist move, while Smotrich barely survived supporting the November 2023 week-long ceasefire. “According to sources, just two days ago, Smotrich was leaning more toward partnering with Netanyahu on the deal, while raising measured objections to certain conditions in the emerging agreement,” Hecht reports. “However, a storm has been brewing within Religious Zionism over the past day, pushing the finance minister to adopt a more defiant stance.”

“Some argued that sweeteners like expanding West Bank settlements or perhaps the cherry on the cake—annexing parts of the West Bank—would be offered as a consolation prize for Smotrich and his party,” Hecht continues. “However, sources within the incoming U.S. administration are consistently signaling that President-elect Trump is heading in an entirely different direction: towards a potential Saudi normalization deal in which Palestinians would receive some form of diplomatic payoff—the complete opposite of the annexation that the Israeli far right believed was in its pocket.

“Soon enough, the far right that backed Trump to the hilt will realize that the incoming president has achieved everything the Democratic administration couldn’t force Netanyahu to do, even before Trump sets foot in the White House again.”