Smotrich, Sukkot threaten elections over Netanyahu’s Gaza City plan, urge full occupation
Smotrich threatened PM Netanyahu at Thursday’s cabinet meeting with going to elections, telling him: “As far as I’m concerned, we can stop everything and let the people decide,” according to KAN.
Finance Minister and Religious Zionist Party (RZP) leader Bezalel Smotrich and RZP MK Zvi Sukkot threatened elections on Sunday in protest against Thursday’s Security Cabinet decision to occupy Gaza City.
“If we return to October 6, 2023, and decide to abandon the war’s 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,” Sukkot wrote on X/Twitter.
“In the last 20 years, there has been no other solution to the Gaza issue. Either Gaza will conquer us, or we will conquer Gaza. The time for conquest has come,” Sukkot wrote in an earlier post on Thursday.
Additionally, Smotrich threatened Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at Thursday’s cabinet meeting with going to elections, telling him: “As far as I’m concerned, we can stop everything and let the people decide,” according to a Sunday report by public broadcaster KAN.
The three RZP ministers, Smotrich, Aliyah and Integration Minister Ofir Sofer, and National Missions Minister Orit Strock, all decided to not attend Sunday’s cabinet meeting in protest against the Security Cabinet’s decision.
RZP MK Michal Woldiger; Illustrative. (credit: REUTERS/FLORION GOGA, YONATAN SINDEL/FLASH90)
Meanwhile, RZP MK Michal Woldiger has not yet explicitly called for elections, but denounced the plan to occupy Gaza City, agreeing with the X post on Friday from hawkish hostage family activist group Tikva Forum.
In their post, the Tikva Forum stated that they were disappointed with the security cabinet’s decision, adding that “expanding the operation while simultaneously increasing aid to Gaza is moral and security folly.”
Woldiger commented that she is “ashamed” of the decision, which “says nothing” and will allow “Hamas to control and manage events.”
Smotrich said in a lengthy statement on Saturday night that following the Security Cabinet meeting on Friday, he has lost confidence that Netanyahu seeks to lead the IDF to victory.
He called on the prime minister to reconvene the cabinet and announce that there will be no more pauses in the war, and no more partial deals.
