Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich says he “lost confidence” in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Aug. 9, 2025. Source: Bezalel Smotrich\/X.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
The development comes after the Security Cabinet overnight Thursday decided by a \u201cdecisive majority\u201d to approve Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu\u2019s plan to expand the war effort by gaining control of Gaza City.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe decision on Thursday was, in the party\u2019s view, a severe mistake and a retreat from the government\u2019s determination to truly achieve victory and defeat Hamas,\u201d one source said. \u201cIf this decision is not changed, we are headed toward dissolving the government and going to elections.\u201d<\/p>\n
The party\u2019s leader, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, issued a blistering denunciation of the prime minister on Saturday evening.<\/p>\n
The breaking point appears to have come with the reversal, in Religious Zionism\u2019s view, of Netanyahu\u2019s determination to conquer all of the Gaza Strip and crush the Hamas terrorist group once and for all.<\/p>\n
Although the prime minister continues to declare that Israel intends to conquer all of Gaza, including in an interview with Fox News<\/em> on Thursday, Aug. 7, shortly before he entered a Security Cabinet meeting to seek approval for the decision, Smotrich, who attended the meeting, said the decision that was taken is not all it seems.<\/p>\nInstead of an operation to seize control of Gaza (roughly 25% of the Strip remains unconquered) and ensure victory, it is merely an attempt to pressure Hamas to return to the negotiating table over the release of the remaining 50 hostages, of whom 20 are estimated to still be alive, he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe prime minister and the Cabinet succumbed to weakness, and let emotion win over common sense,\u201d Smotrich said in a video post on X.<\/p>\n
Religious Zionist Knesset member Tzvi Sukkot, in an X post on Sunday, seconded, \u201cIf we return to 10\/6\/23 and decide to abandon the war\u2019s objectives, it is an existential danger to the State of Israel. If this is the situation, in my opinion, we need to go to elections.\u201d<\/p>\n
Religious Zionism MK Simcha Rothman, chairman of the Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee, agreed that the government\u2019s failure to fully defeat Hamas could lead to early elections.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know what will happen in the end. I am sure that if this lack of faith by Minister Smotrich in the ability of this government to end the war and eliminate Hamas continues, then the answer is probably \u2018yes,’\u201d Rothman told JNS.<\/p>\n
The government\u2019s war aim<\/strong><\/p>\nSmotrich has been warning for two years that the government had been making a \u201cmajor mistake\u201d by effectively swapping out as its war aim the elimination of Hamas with that of negotiating with the terror group to free the hostages, Rothman said.<\/p>\n
Hamas has repeatedly rejected ceasefire-for-hostages proposals, Rothman noted. \u201cEvery time Netanyahu gets a negative response from Hamas\u2014and the negotiators from this and the previous administration were very clear that Hamas does not want a deal\u2014at some point, one should say that the deal is off the table and that we will go all in. As Trump said, \u2018Open the gates of hell on Hamas.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
But Netanyahu is unwilling to abandon negotiations and therein lies the problem, because Israel doesn\u2019t have \u201cendless time,\u201d neither for the soldiers nor for the hostages, Rothman said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have to push through. We have to take down Hamas. To keep this negotiating window open is the mistake that has kept the war stuck for so long. It\u2019s not good for winning the war. It\u2019s not good for Israel,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Sources close to the prime minister rejected the criticism, saying that there is currently no partial hostage deal on the horizon, nor a comprehensive deal that will lead to the release of all the hostages and an end to the war, Channel 14<\/em>\u2018s diplomatic correspondent Tamir Morag reported on Sunday.<\/p>\nIsrael is moving forward until the entire Gaza Strip is conquered and Hamas is eliminated, the sources told Morag.<\/p>\n
Netanyahu on Friday reiterated that Israel has no intention of occupying Gaza, saying the expansion of the war is aimed at destroying Hamas and freeing the local population from its regime of terror.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are not going to occupy Gaza\u2014we are going to free Gaza from Hamas,\u201d said Netanyahu.<\/p>\n
\u201cGaza will be demilitarized, and a peaceful civilian administration will be established, one that is not the Palestinian Authority, not Hamas, and not any other terrorist organization,\u201d he continued. \u201cThis will help free our hostages and ensure Gaza does not pose a threat to Israel in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n
Emerging reports in the Hebrew press appeared to support Religious Zionism\u2019s version. Israel Hayom <\/em>reported on Sunday that the deal approved by the Security Cabinet was a compromise.<\/p>\nDue to attrition in IDF reserves, the opposition to the plan of the IDF chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, and the U.S. administration\u2019s desire to exhaust all diplomatic avenues, the Cabinet agreed to Zamir\u2019s plan to maintain military pressure from the army\u2019s current positions, \u201cwith limited advances in Gaza City\u2019s Zeitoun neighborhood and along the Netzarim Corridor,\u201d Israel Hayom <\/em>reported.<\/p>\nAmit Segal, Channel 12<\/em>\u2018s chief political correspondent, reported similarly that that the Security Cabinet decision did not call for defeating Hamas, but only authorized \u201cintensified action in Gaza City.\u201d<\/p>\nAfter Zamir raised difficulties, the compromise included conquering Gaza City, but with the proviso that if Hamas agreed to a deal, a ceasefire would be called and \u201cthe operation will stop, and the IDF will withdraw,\u201d Segal posted to X on Sunday. He added that the government didn\u2019t rule out a partial hostage deal.<\/p>\n
In his X post, Smotrich acknowledged Israel\u2019s achievements thus far against Hezbollah, Iran and, to a degree, against Hamas, but said \u201cthe goals of the war haven\u2019t yet been completed.\u201d<\/p>\n
For weeks, he revealed, he had been working \u201cintensively\u201d with Netanyahu on a plan for a speedy military victory followed by a diplomatic move that would exact \u201ca painful price\u201d of Hamas, \u201cdestroy its military and civilian capabilities, and overwhelm it with unprecedented pressure to release the hostages.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe prime minister seemed to support the plan. He debated with me on the details and broadcast that he was striving for a victory and this time he intended to go all the way. But to my regret, he immediately made a U-turn,\u201d Smotrich said.<\/p>\n
If the purpose of the IDF\u2019s next maneuver is only to bring Hamas back to negotiations, the army will not operate at full power, Smotrich warned. Worse still, it will give Hamas an out at the moment of its choosing. The second it senses it\u2019s on the brink of defeat, it will green-light negotiations so it can regroup, he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s how you don\u2019t defeat [your enemy], that\u2019s how you don\u2019t return hostages, that\u2019s how you don\u2019t win a war,\u201d Smotrich said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have lost faith that the prime minister is capable of, or wants, to lead the IDF [to victory],\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Smotrich noted that he had supported the government despite difficult decisions with which he didn\u2019t agree, including the release of terrorists, who had murdered Israelis, for the release of hostages.<\/p>\n
Signaling he had reached the end of the line, Smotrich said, \u201cTo send tens of thousands of soldiers to maneuver in Gaza City at the risk of their lives, to pay a heavy political and international price just to put pressure on Hamas to release the hostages, and then stepping back, is an immoral and illogical injustice.<\/p>\n
\u201cUnfortunately, for the first time since the beginning of the war, I feel that I simply cannot stand behind this decision and back it. My conscience won\u2019t allow me,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
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