Right wing up in arms over option of ceasefire, says Israel has no moral right to stop now

By Sam Sokol 

Today, 9:35 am

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich (left) and National Missions Minister Orit Strock at a Religious Zionism faction meeting in the West Bank settlement of Givat Harel, February 14, 2023. (Sraya Diamant/Flash90)

Coalition officials are rushing to publicly urge Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu not to agree to a 21-day truce in Lebanon, saying this would lack moral justification and merely serve to allow Hezbollah to regroup following the series of blows it has received.

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich tweets that “the campaign in the north should end in one scenario — crushing Hezbollah, denying its ability to harm the residents of the north.”

“The enemy must not be given time to recover from the heavy blows it received and to reorganize for the continuation of the war after 21 days,” he says, arguing that only the terror group’s surrender should head off a war in the north.

Headlines in various Hebrew media have been promising an imminent ceasefire based on a single report by Britain’s Sky News, which quotes unnamed US administration officials saying they “expect” a three-week pause to be implemented “in the coming hours.” Previous reports have quoted Israeli officials as saying chances for a ceasefire are very slim.

Settlements and National Projects Minister Orit Strock of Smotrich’s far-right Religious Zionism party likewise pans efforts to halt the fighting, stating that “there is no moral mandate for a ceasefire, not for 21 days and not for 21 hours.” She urges leaders to “not repeat past mistakes” by ending the fighting prematurely.

Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu calls efforts to secure a ceasefire “dangerous hypocrisy,” stating that “whoever did not know how to restrain Hezbollah during a whole year of incessant shelling… should not preach to us when we fight back.”

“We will not give up our security for fake ‘peace,’” he adds, shortly before his far-right Otzma Yehudit party announces that it will hold “an urgent meeting” to discuss the issue in the coming hours.

Culture Minister Miki Zohar of Netanyahu’s ruling Likud party says that he hopes what he terms the “reports” are not true, adding that agreeing to a ceasefire would constitute “a serious error that endangers Israel’s major security achievements in recent days.”

Addressing the prime minister directly on Twitter, Likud MK Tally Gotliv calls on Netanyahu to “withstand the pressure.”