Ben-Gvir submits resignation in opposition to Gaza ceasefire deal
Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and two other ministers from his nationalist-religious party have resigned from Netanyahu’s cabinet over the ceasefire deal.
The Otzma Yehudit, or Jewish Power, party is no longer part of the ruling coalition, it said, adding it will not try to bring down the government.
A settler in Kiryat Arba – one of the most hardline settlements in the occupied West Bank – Ben-Gvir has been convicted of incitement to racism, destroying property, possessing a “terror” organisation’s propaganda material and supporting a “terror” organisation – Meir Kahane’s outlawed Kach group, which he joined when he was 16.
But in the March 2021 elections, Ben-Gvir’s party managed to enter parliament by merging with Bezalel Smotrich’s National Union party, becoming the Religious Zionism slate, and losing the election.
Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir
Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich have always been opposed to any ceasefire.
They don’t believe the goals of the war have been met. In fact, these are men whose ideology calls for the reoccupation, the resettling of Israelis in Gaza and the annexation of the occupied West Bank – so they are against any deal.
This is why many analysts and many Israelis will tell you that Netanyahu has pushed back on a deal for the past 15 months. Why? Because both have threatened to leave his government, meaning a government collapse, meaning the end of Benjamin Netanyahu as prime minister, meaning new elections right now.
But Ben-Gvir’s exit doesn’t mean the collapse of the government, as he has said that if there is a return to war after the first phase, he will rejoin the coalition.
Next few weeks of Israel-Hamas ceasefire likely to be ‘difficult’
Yossi Mekelberg, with the Middle East and North Africa programme at Chatham House, says people should be “cautiously optimistic” over the ceasefire between Hamas and Israel.
“We need to prepare ourselves that the next six, seven weeks are not going to be easy. And probably there will be a lot of technical issues, just because both sides move very cautiously towards implementing this [deal],” said Mekelberg.
He told Al Jazeera, from the beginning of the war, most Israelis didn’t believe military pressure would bring the captives home, but rather “diplomacy and an agreement” would.
“On the other side, out of his own doing, [Netanyahu] is in the government with the most far-right elements in Israeli politics, and they have no interest in ending the war. They have a completely different messianic agenda,” said Mekelberg.
“They would like to occupy Gaza, they would like to resettle it and expel Palestinians.”
Essay Pro