Netanyahu’s far-right partners reject ceasefire proposal
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Two far-right partners have threatened to bring down Netanyahu's government, should Israel agree to a ceasefire deal.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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JERUSALEM - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu manoeuvred into rougher political waters on June 3, as two far-right partners threatened to bring down his government
Mr Netanyahu told lawmakers in a closed door meeting on June 3 that US President Joe Biden had not presented the “whole picture” when he described a proposed ceasefire from the White House
The Prime Minister, however, expressed openness to a 42-day pause
Mr Biden called the three-phase proposal, which he said was put forward by Israel, a road map to an “enduring ceasefire” and to the release of the remaining hostages in Gaza.
If Hamas abided by the agreement’s terms, Mr Biden said, it would ultimately lead to the “cessation of hostilities permanently”.
“It’s time to end this war,” Mr Biden added.
Two far-right members of Mr Netanyahu’s governing coalition, Mr Itamar Ben-Gvir, the National Security Minister, and Mr Bezalel Smotrich, the Finance Minister, said on June 3 that they could not accept any deal that stops short of completely eliminating Hamas.
As Mr Biden described it on May 31, the Israeli military’s attacks in Gaza had already eliminated Hamas as a major threat, and that “at this point, Hamas is no longer capable of carrying out another Oct 7”.
But in the views of Mr Ben-Gvir and Mr Smotrich, whose parties make up a small but critical piece of Mr Netanyahu’s majority, the proposal does not go far enough to guarantee the destruction of Hamas.
The two threatened to pull out of the coalition, taking down the government with them, should Mr Netanyahu accept a deal that stops short of destroying Hamas.
“If the government, God forbid, decides to adopt this proposal of surrender, we will no longer be a part of it and we will take action to replace the failing leadership with a new leadership that knows how to defeat Hamas and win the war,” Mr Smotrich said.
Mr Ben-Gvir said that what Mr Biden presented would mean “the surrender of Israel” and “the end of the war without achieving its main goal, the destruction of Hamas”.
Without Mr Ben-Gvir’s party, which holds six parliamentary seats, and Mr Smotrich’s party, which holds seven, Mr Netanyahu would likely struggle to remain in office.
The Prime Minister told the legislators June 3 that he would not agree to completely end the war without Hamas’ defeat or surrender, said the person in the meeting.
Mr Netanyahu’s office reiterated that point in a statement, saying: “The claims that we have agreed to a ceasefire without our conditions being met are incorrect.”
Mr Netanyahu’s comments underscored how he has struggled to navigate competing pressures from Israel’s allies and the international community, which are demanding a stop to the fighting
Dr Shira Efron, a senior director of policy research at the Israel Policy Forum, said that although Mr Ben-Gvir and Mr Smotrich were part of a “once-in-a-lifetime coalition”, they were willing to topple Mr Netanyahu’s government and lose their powerful ministerial posts in the process.
“They’re true ideologues,” she said in an interview.
Mr Matthew Miller, a US State Department spokesman, said on June 3 that Mr Biden had anticipated that the plan would be unacceptable to some members of the Israeli government.
“And of course, we’ve seen some members of the Israeli government already come out and oppose it,” he said.
But Mr Miller added that the proposal was “in the long-term security interests of Israel”.
“It’s obviously in the long-term interests of the Palestinian people, as well.”
Mr Miller said that since Mr Biden announced the plan on May 31, Secretary of State Antony Blinken had spoken to the foreign ministers of Turkey, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates.
He had also spoken to Mr Benny Gantz, a member of Israel’s war Cabinet, and to Israel’s Defence Minister Yoav Gallant.
“We’re completely confident” that Israel supports the ceasefire plan, Mr Miller said, adding that it was submitted last week to Hamas, which has yet to formally respond.
Hamas on May 31 said that it “positively views” the proposal as described by Mr Biden.
It has not said whether it would accept the deal.
On June 2, Mr Ghazi Hamad, a senior Hamas official, told an Egyptian news outlet that “the ball” was now “in the Israeli court”.
Mr Netanyahu has insisted that the ceasefire proposal would enable Israel to continue fighting Hamas until all its war aims are achieved, including destroying the military and governing capabilities of the group, which led the deadly Oct 7 attacks in southern Israel.
Two Israeli officials confirmed that the offer shared by Mr Biden generally aligned with the most recent ceasefire proposal that Israel had presented in talks mediated by Qatar and Egypt.
As much as the world’s focus has been trained on the spiralling death toll and the humanitarian crisis in Gaza as the Israeli military continues its offensive, in Israel itself the focus is on the safety and release of the hostages
Adding to the political pressures on Mr Netanyahu, Mr Gantz, a centrist, has threatened to leave the emergency wartime government unless the Prime Minister agrees by June 8 to a plan that brings home the hostages, addresses the future governance of Gaza, returns displaced Israelis to their homes and advances normalisation with Saudi Arabia.
“If you choose the path of zealots, dragging the country into the abyss, we will be forced to leave the government,” Mr Gantz said in a televised news conference in May. “We will turn to the people and build a government that will earn the people’s trust.” NYTIMES
