National Security Minister MK Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich demanded on Wednesday that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and National Security Council head Tzachi Hanegbi convene the National Security Cabinet after Tuesday’s terror attack near Eli in the West Bank that killed four Israeli citizens and wounded four others.
“I received a detailed update from the military secretary on the situation assessment at [the IDF’s] Central Command, but with all due respect to the participants, most of whom were high-ranking military officials … the public voted in the election for those who aware appointed ministers, and our role is to be the decision-makers and not recipients of updates,” Ben-Gvir wrote in a letter to Hanegbi, with a copy sent to Netanyahu as well.
Ben-Gvir: My role in Israel’s government demands my voice be taken into account
“My role and the six mandates that the public gave to the Otzma Yehudit Party, which is part of this government, require that my voice be heard and taken into account.
“True, I am aware of the fact that not everyone in the prime minister’s circle is happy with my demands to take down buildings, assassinate terrorists and bring back roadblocks,” Ben-Gvir added, repeating comments he made during a visit to the site of the attack on Tuesday.
Smotrich on Tuesday also demanded that the cabinet convene to discuss the security situation in northern Samaria.
MK Zvi Sukkot attends a Religious Zionist Party meeting at the Knesset, the Israeli parliament in Jerusalem ,January 23, 2023 (credit: YONATAN SINDEL/FLASH90)A member of Smotrich’s Religious Zionist Party (RZP), MK Zvi Sukkot, threatened on Ynet Radio on Wednesday that if the security situation continued “without a proper response” – he would cease to be a member of the coalition.
Opposition members also criticized the government.
Yisrael Beytenu chairman MK Avigdor Liberman wrote on Twitter, “A feeble, frightened government that exhibits weakness every day. Hezbollah’s incursion into Israel’s sovereign territory and lack of IDF response, reflect the true abilities of the fully ‘right-wing’ government,” Liberman wrote.
Labor MK Gilad Kariv said, “Whoever claims that the answer to the terror wave is to increase IDF activity, without addressing the need to renew dialogue with the Palestinian Authority and acting significantly to strengthen it, is a liar who is deceiving the public.”
“Every party and Knesset member from the opposition that does not say this unequivocally strengthens the deception of Netanyahu, whose policy in the last decade only strengthened Hamas and its dominance over the Palestinian street,” Kariv added.
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