Editorial |
Ben-Gvir Said the Quiet Part Out Loud: Netanyahu Sacrificed Hostages for Personal Interest
Jan 14, 2025 11:53 pm IST
National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir unequivocally confirmed on Tuesday the suspicion that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been delaying the return of the hostages – even at the cost of their lives – and is drawing out the war based on personal interest: his political survival.
A deal for releasing the hostages has been on the table for an entire year, and Netanyahu has repeatedly scuttled it to preserve his government, which is dependent upon his criminal alliance with the Kahanist right wing.
On Tuesday, Ben-Gvir called on Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich to join him in informing Netanyahu that if the prime minister signs a hostage release deal, they would both quit the coalition. "Over the past year, through our political power, we have succeeded in preventing that deal from going through, time after time," Ben-Gvir acknowledged.
After that, he attributed Gideon Sa'ar's joining the coalition as harming his efforts at thwarting the deal. "Additional members have joined the government who now support the deal, and we are no longer the decisive factor," the national security minister stated.
The hostages' families along with the public at large are wishing for their return and have for over a year now seen Netanyahu torpedo deal after deal based on various excuses – one time it was the Rafah crossing, another the Philadelphi route.
They have accused him of forsaking the hostages for political interests. But Netanyahu, his government and his supporters have hypocritically responded by going on the offensive: How dare the hostage deal supporters brazenly attribute such heartlessness to him and his camp? But now, the cat's out of the bag.
Without a drop of shame, Ben-Gvir wrapped his opposition to the deal with concern for the hostages' lives. The deal, he said, "does not lead to the release of all the hostages and seals the fate of death for the rest of the hostages who are not included in the deal."
And then he added, as if his concern was for the lives of Israel's citizens – and not his readiness to sacrifice human beings to establish the third Temple in the heart of an apartheid empire with the West Bank and Gaza Strip dictating his path: "This is not a difficult choice that must be made to return the hostages. It will cost the lives of many other Israeli citizens, who will unfortunately pay the price of this deal with their lives."
The fact that a senior minister in the government is boasting that for a solid year he has managed to scuttle a deal – while everyone knows these acts have cost dozens of hostages and so many soldiers their lives – is testimony more than anything to the rot that has spread into the country's leadership.
Ben-Gvir's remarks need to serve as an important reminder: The return of all the hostages and an end to the war are just the first step on the long road to Israel's recovery from the misdeeds of Netanyahu and his gang.