Israel’s far-right Public Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir resigned on Sunday. The reason is disagreement with the cease-fire agreement in the Gaza Strip, which was approved by the Israeli government on Friday. Along with Ben-Gvir, two other ministers also resigned. TASR informs about it according to the AP, AFP and The Times of Israel (TOI) portal.
The outgoing ministers said in a statement that “from this moment on, the Jewish Power Party (Ocma Yehudit) is not a member of the government”.
Ben-Gvir said in a letter to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that his “agreement to capitulate to terrorism crosses all ideological red lines”. According to him, the ceasefire is “a complete victory for terrorism”. He added that the outgoing ministers have no intention of working to topple the government, but in “ideological views” they plan to vote “according to their opinion and conscience”, writes TOI.
“We will not return to the government table without a complete victory over Hamas and the full realization of the war objectives.” he added.
Even before the approval of the ceasefire agreement between Israel and the Palestinian movement Hamas in the Gaza Strip, Ben-Gvir threatened that his party would withdraw from the governing coalition. He called the agreement, which was announced by mediators on Wednesday, “irresponsible”. He particularly pointed to the security risks associated with the release of Palestinian prisoners, whom he described as terrorists.
On Saturday, he announced that the following day, together with his fellow party members, he would resign from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government. His resignation will not mean the fall of the government or the end of the ceasefire agreement, but it will destabilize the cabinet and could lead to its disintegration. if Ben-Gvir were joined by other current allies of Prime Minister Netanyahu.
The far-right Minister of Finance Becalel Smotrič also spoke out against the agreement. Both of them, along with six other cabinet members, voted against its adoption at Friday’s meeting.
The agreement was supposed to enter into force on Sunday at 7:30 a.m. CET. However, the cease-fire has not started because Hamas has not handed over the list of hostages it plans to release as part of the cease-fire. According to the statement of the movement, the reason is “technical problems”.
