Ministers threaten coalition over choice between Rafah op. and hostage deal

Amid reports that Israel was preparing to invade Rafah while also offering to postpone or forgo the operation in exchange for Hamas releasing Israeli hostages kidnapped on October 7, right-wing government ministers threatened to withdraw from the coalition should Israel postpone the Rafah operation. Meanwhile, center and center-left MKs said the government would lose its legitimacy if Israel rejected a hostage deal, and invaded Rafah instead.

Amid the political back and forth, a senior Israeli official told media: "Preparations for entering Rafah continue. In any deal, if there is one, Israel will not give up the goals of the war."

On Sunday, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir repeated an earlier statement of his that a hostages-for-ceasefire to end the war would mean the end of the government. His ally, Finance Minister and Religious Zionism leader, Bezalel Smotrich, said in a video posted to X, formerly Twitter, on Sunday that "agreeing to the Egyptian deal would be a humiliating surrender, handing over victory to Nazis on the backs of hundreds of heroic IDF soldiers that have fallen in battle."

Smotrich threatened to withdraw from the government if Prime Minister Netanyahu should agree to a deal.

"If you agree to wave a white flag and cancel the plans to enter Rafah immediately," he stated, "a government under your leadership will have no right to exist."

Gantz: Rafah op important, but hostages urgent and far more important

Minister-without-portfolio Benny Gantz, who sits alongside Netanyahu in the war cabinet, responded to Smotrich's threat, writing on X, "Entering Rafah is important in the long struggle against Hamas, [but] the return of our hostages, who were abandoned by the October 7 government, is urgent and of far greater importance."

If the security system backs a reasonable deal that would not end the war, and "the ministers who led the government on October 7 prevent it," Gantz said, "the government will not have the right to continue to exist."

Opposition leader Yair Lapid charged that the government must choose between the two right-wing ministers and the good of the State of Israel, writing, "This government has to choose: return the hostages alive, or Ben-Gvir and Smotrich; relations with the Americans, or Ben-Gvir and Smotrich; the Saudi deal, or Ben-Gvir and Smotrich; Israel's security, or Ben-Gvir and Smotrich." 

Merav Michaeli, leader of the Labor Party, wrote on X, "Israel must return the hostages. If it is possible to do it, it is forbidden to prevent it."

Yair Golan, who is seeking leadership of Israel's left-wing camp in the next elections— whenever they come— also called for "Return of the hostages, now!!!," writing that if Israelis do not feel it is their civic obligation to return their fellow citizens, "there is no future for Israeli society." 

Liberman: It's time for politicians to take a moment and be quiet

Avigdor Liberman of Yisrael Beiteinu, a right-wing party that is not part of the coalition, commented on the back-and-forth between the ministers, saying on Sunday, "I advise all politicians to understand the gravity of this moment, to take a moment and to be quiet.

"All the statements and press conferences serve no one," he added, "except the human monsters of Hamas, who follow every statement religiously. We do not conduct negotiations in the media."