Hostage deal could be finalized today – but will far right Ministers Ben Gvir and Smotrich blow it up?
Both threaten to bolt government if Netanyahu says yes to deal almost done in Qatar
JERUSALEM, ISRAEL – Well-placed Israeli sources tell ALL ISRAEL NEWS that negotiations are almost complete in Doha, Qatar.
A final deal could be announced later today that would release upwards of 33 Israeli live hostages.
U.S. President Joe Biden and his team appear satisfied that this is a good deal for Israel and that the time is right to wrap it up to save the lives of the remaining hostages.
President-elect Donald Trump and his team also appear satisfied and are pressing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to accept the terms this week.
Yet suddenly two far-right-wing members of the government are threatening to bolt the coalition if Netanyahu agrees to the terms negotiated by senior representatives of Biden and Trump.
National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir has called Finance Minister Betzalel Smotrich to say, “Let's go together to the Prime Minister and tell him that if this hostage deal goes through then we both will leave the government.”
Smotrich, head of the Religious Zionist Party, is warning that the deal represents a “catastrophe for Israel’s national security.”
“We will not be part of a surrender deal that would include releasing terrorists, stopping the war and dissolving the achievements that were bought with much blood, and abandoning many hostages,” Smotrich stated.
Smotrich added that “now is the time to continue with all our might, to occupy and cleanse the entire Strip, to finally take control of humanitarian aid from Hamas, and to open the gates of hell on Gaza until Hamas surrenders completely and all the hostages are returned.”
"The emerging deal is a surrender to Hamas!" echoed Ben-Gvir, head of the extremist Jewish Power party (Otzma Yehudit), wrote on 𝕏.
"I call on my colleague, Minister Bezalel Smotrich, to join me and collaborate in opposing the surrender deal with Hamas."
All eyes are now on Netanyahu.
Will he accept the deal and risk blowing up his government and going to new elections?
Or will he blow up the deal and risk angering Trump as he prepares to take office on Monday?
Joel C. Rosenberg is the editor-in-chief of ALL ISRAEL NEWS and ALL ARAB NEWS and the President and CEO of Near East Media. A New York Times best-selling author, Middle East analyst, and Evangelical leader, he lives in Jerusalem with his wife and sons.
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