Israeli president offers Netanyahu “full support” to close an agreement with Hams
The President of Israel, Isaac Herzog, has publicly offered to the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, “full support” to close a ceasefire agreement with the Islamist group Hamas that allows the release of all the hostages still in the Gaza Strip.
“We must not forget that, according to Jewish tradition, There is no greater commandment than to redeem captives and hostagesespecially when it comes to Israeli citizens whom the State of Israel was unable to defend,” Herzog said in a lecture at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
The president thanked the US president, Joe Biden, his push for a new proposal agreement that he announced on Friday night and “for his continued efforts to achieve the release of all hostages held by Hamas,” he stressed.
Herzog has spoken to Netanyahu about the proposal and promised him “full support” to seal an agreement, as Chaim Herzog noted at the Conference, named after his deceased father, who was also president of Israel.
“It is our inherent obligation to bring them home within the framework of an agreement that preserves the security interests of the State of Israel,” he said of the 121 kidnapped people who remain in the enclave, although many of them are feared dead.
The proposal announced by Biden is agreed upon with Israel, and contemplates a ceasefire in phases, which in a second stage includes a definitive cessation of hostilities and the departure of Israeli troops, something that, according to the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu does not contradict his main objectives of the war: “end Hamas and bring back all those kidnapped.”
The Islamists welcomed the draft “positively”but they have demanded more detailed information about the different phases of the agreement.
However, the hard wing of the government, represented by the far-right ministers Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben Gvir, have threatened to leave the coalition if Israel accepts the agreement considering that it would prevent the main objective of the war, which is for them to dismantle Hamas.
Both lead the Religious Zionism and Jewish Power parties, which together total 14 seats in the Knesset (Israeli Parliament), essential for Netanyahu’s Executive not to fall; although the head of the opposition, the centrist Yaid Lapid, yesterday urged the prime minister to accept the pact and promised not to let the Executive fall for this reason.
Center-right leader Benny Gantz, a war cabinet minister who joined an emergency executive from the opposition after October 7, called for the cabinet to meet as soon as possible to “formulate next steps” and close the deal.
Although it has led many of the electoral polls during the war, Gantz’s party, National Unity, only has eight seats in Parliament, so its support would not be enough to compensate for the loss of support within the far-right coalition.
