Ben Gvir Announces His Party Will Oppose Ceasefire and Hostage-Release Deal

National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir announced that his Otzma Yehudit party will oppose the initial phase of the ceasefire plan revealed today, which calls for the release of Palestinian prisoners in exchange for all 48 Israeli hostages held by Hamas in Gaza.

Although Ben Gvir’s faction will not immediately withdraw from Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu’s governing coalition, he cautioned that if Hamas’s leadership remains intact, Otzma Yehudit will “bring down the government.”

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who heads the Religious Zionism party, also declared his intention to vote against the agreement.

The cabinet convened Thursday to decide on the proposal and is expected to approve it, following more than three hours of delay prompted by Ben Gvir’s objections to the inclusion of 250 Palestinian security prisoners serving life terms among those scheduled for release.

“Our hearts are filled with joy, happiness and excitement that all the hostages are expected to return home,” Ben Gvir said in a statement. “But alongside this joy, we must not — under any circumstances — ignore the question of the price: the release of thousands of terrorists, including 250 murderers who are expected to be freed from prisons.”

Because of that, Ben Gvir said, Otzma Yehudit could not support “a deal that releases those murderous terrorists, and we will oppose it in the government.”

He also stated that he told Netanyahu he would not stay in “a government that allows Hamas’s rule in Gaza to continue.”

According to Ben Gvir, the prime minister assured him that would not occur, but he added: “If Hamas’s rule is not dismantled, or if we are merely told that it has been dismantled while in reality it continues to exist under another guise — Otzma Yehudit will bring down the government.”

Should Ben Gvir and Smotrich both depart from the fragile 60-seat coalition, the government — already without a clear Knesset majority — would shrink to just 47 seats out of 120, a collapse that could pave the way for early elections.

{Matzav.com Israel}