Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich spoke to Arutz Sheva about changes to be made in the humanitarian aid to Gaza and the price that Israel is ready to pay to continue this war until the end so that its citizens can return home safely.
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich revealed this evening (Thursday) in an interview with Arutz Sheva – Israel National News that Israel is preparing for a change in the way humanitarian aid is transferred to Gaza.
“The transfer of aid is one of the gravest mistakes we have been making since the beginning of the war. I have been warning the Cabinet about this, both in writing and orally, and I assumed that the situation will change in the coming days,” Smotrich stated.
According to him, “The Prime Minister gave a political order to the Chief of Staff to find an alternative. It is clear to everyone that the reality in which we are operating is completely unrealistic. On the one hand, we have defined the goal of the war as the destruction of Hamas’s capabilities, both on a military and governmental level, and on the other hand, are strengthening Hamas, giving it humanitarian aid and, in the end, it is maintaining Gazan citizens’ dependence on it to receive aid.”
“In the beginning, we stated that the only one who would bring in aid would be UNWRA because the other choice was Hamas. It turns out that UNRWA is 100% Hamas. When the humanitarian aid started coming in, the Cabinet promised and said that the US agrees that if we find out that Hamas is taking control over the aid, that we bomb it from the air and stop bringing in the aid,” he added.
“This suggestion will create a situation where the aid not only buys us an international window of time, breathing space and legitimacy for the continuation of the war – but serves us for other purposes as well. I claim that the humanitarian effort must be integrated with the operational effort and serve its needs. If we do not dry up Sinwar and his terrorists if we do not starve them and kill them in the cold of the tunnels and force them to come out so that the IDF can eliminate them from the air, we will be prolonging the duration of the war and endangering our own soldiers,” Smotrich warns.
When asked if he feels that he has no influence in the government under the current situation, the Minister replied, “I think that we have a great deal of influence. I stopped the transfer of funds to the Palestinian Authority, and this became part of the cabinet’s consensus and later received US backing. We stopped Gaza residents from returning to the northern Gaza Strip, even though IDF officials and legal experts claimed that this was the right move. But we are not fighting this war alone. We only have seven mandates, and there are other members of the government and Cabinet, and some of them think differently than us. This is a war of the entire people of Israel. The unity we have formed creates cohesion in the Israeli society and this is what will lead to breaking Sinwar.”
Israel, he emphasizes, has achieved many goals in Gaza. “Contrary to the crying and moaning that we are hearing from the television studios – ‘we are pulling them apart.’ It is impossible to live in most of the Gaza Strip today. Outside Gaza you hear things like ‘We can’t win,’ ‘There is no choice,’ and ‘We will stop this war.’ There is a military solution to terrorism – it takes time and this is how it works. We managed to do this in 1949 and we won. We managed to do this in 1967 and we won. It is all about the loss of hope that drives the terrorists’ motivation. The IDF is breaking Hamas and destroying it. It takes time and requires determination, cohesion, and patience.”
Smotrich does not like to hear from those who say that defeating Hamas could take many more years and therefore the intensity of the fighting must now be reduced. “I don’t like it when people try to say, ‘Well, we won’t decide now, it will take a lot of time.’ We are in the Middle East and we will continue to be fighting for survival. We need an alert army, that is not caught in false concepts, but rather with officers who believe in our abilities and believe that we can conquer terrorism. The main stage can be completed within a few months and this means that the residents of the south will return to a completely different reality of security. The residents of the north will also return to a different reality because the deterrence will also project on Hezbollah. The message that must come out of this war is that whoever messes with us – will be destroyed.”
“Sinwar is sitting in his burrow, watching Israeli television. The question is whether he is telling himself that he is winning and surviving, because the Israelis are back to fighting, because they want elections and a deal at all costs, or that they want to stop the war and force him to come out of his bunker – or is he telling himself that he has no chance at all because the Israelis are determined and will keep going until the end. In such a situation, he will surrender quickly. The time and the chance to return the hostages – depends only on us,” says Smotrich.
“Sinwar was sure that the Israeli society was not ready to pay the price and after a few dozen deaths it would stop the military maneuver. He is surprised because he discovered that Israeli society is determined and believes in its right to existence and is ready to pay the heavy price. In the end, Hamas terrorists are cowards and when they are faced with our determination, they will realize that they will be destroyed. This message will also resonate through Iran, Syria, the Houthis in Yemen, and the militias in Iraq,” declares the Minister of Finance.
Each time Bibi gives in to pressure from Biden, total victory over Hamas becomes less likely.
Each time Bibi adopts advice from Smotrich, total victory over Hamas becomes more likely.