Gaza war
Right-wing extremist partners are increasing pressure on Netanyahu
Ben-Gvir (r.) and Betzalel Smotrich bet: one threatens to fall, the other wants more severity. photo
© Ilia Yefimovich/dpa
The right-wing extremist allies are taking a hard line against Prime Minister Netanyahu. Police Minister Ben-Gvir is threatening to withdraw the Prime Minister’s mandate. Is the coalition overturning?
After the withdrawal of Israeli troops from the south of the Gaza Strip, pressure from right-wing extremist coalition partners on the Israeli head of government is growing Benjamin Netanyahu.
Police Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir from the far-right Otzma Yehudit party wrote on the X platform, formerly Twitter: “If the prime minister decides to end the war without a broad attack on Rafah to decisively defeat Hamas, he will not have a mandate to continue to serve as head of government.”
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich from the Religious Zionism party also called for the immediate assembly of the security cabinet in a statement, “against the background of reports of an end to the war.” He wrote an urgent letter to Netanyahu on the issue. Smotrich wrote that he was referring to “the situation in which ground forces are withdrawn from the Gaza Strip and the intensity of the war is generally reduced, while the start of the offensive in Rafah has been delayed for many weeks.”
“We must increase pressure on Hamas in the Gaza Strip”
There are also reports of Israel’s willingness to allow residents to return to the north of the Gaza Strip “and de facto bring about an end to the war.” The Israeli negotiating team also received “a very broad mandate” in the talks about a new ceasefire in the Gaza war. Only the large cabinet is authorized to make such decisions, emphasized Smotrich. “Instead of taking our foot off the accelerator, we must increase the pressure on Hamas in the Gaza Strip. This is the only way to get the hostages back and destroy Hamas,” he wrote in the statement.
According to observers, Netanyahu, who has been on trial for corruption for years, is dependent on his right-wing extremist coalition partners because his political survival depends on them.