Far Right Members Of Knesset Vow To Resign In Protest Of Israel-Hamas Ceasefire

Far Right Members Of Knesset Vow To Resign In Protest Of Israel-Hamas Ceasefire

by blueapples
Sunday, Jan 19, 2025 - 10:17


Fallout from the Israel-Hamas ceasefire that is poised to bring pause to the war in Gaza continues to reverberate through Israel's political landscape. Factions of the ruling government of Israel have voiced their strong opposition to the ceasefire, condemning it as a capitulation. The decision to withdraw the IDF from northern Gaza has brought dissent among the ranks of the Israeli government's ruling coalition. That dysfunction puts prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a precarious position has his ability to remain as Israel's head out state now faces growing uncertainty.

Itamar Ben-Gvir, head of Otzma Yehudit (Jewish Power), has called upon his party's members to follow his lead and submit their resignations from the Knesset. Jewish Power currently holds 6 of the 120 seats in the unicameral legislature. Despite only holding a small amount of seats, their membership in Likud's ruling coalition is vital to keeping Netanyahu in power. In addition to leading Jewish Power, Ben-Gvir has served as Israel's Minister Of National Security since Netanyahu returned to his role as Prime Minister Of Israel for his 6th term in December 2022, a decision he has also pledged to abdicate from. Ben-Gvir's dictate to abandon Netanyahu in the wake of the ceasefire is on par for the far right political party built upon a platform of explicit Jewish supremacy.


In response to Jewish Power's promise to resign from its seats at the Knesset, the Likud party blasted Ben-Gvir by saying “Anyone who dissolves the right-wing government will be remembered as an eternal disgrace.” Despite the political consequence of Jewish Power's decision to leave the ruling coalition led by Likud, the threats bellowed by Netanyahu's party don't appear to carry much weight as Jewish Power's sentiment is shared by other extreme factions of the Knesset's majority.

Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, an outspoken advocate of building illegal settlements in the West Bank and the mission to create Greater Israel, has echoed Ben-Gvir's calls upon his party to leave the Knesset in protest of the ceasefire. Smotrich has called upon the members of his own party, Religious Zionism, to resign from their seats in the Knesset. Instead of resigning before the ceasefire goes into effect like Jewish Power members have been instructed to, the members of Religious Zionism will only resign if Israel does not immediately resume the war following the first phase of the ceasefire in which Israeli hostages will be released from Gaza by Hamas. Following the announcement of his instruction to have Jewish Power resign, Ben-Gvir stated he would consider rejoining the ruling coalition if and when the war resumed.

Both Ben-Gvir and Smotrich have chastised Netanyahu for signing the ceasefire that goes into affect on Sunday as a grave threat to Israel's national security. However, Ben-Gvir has separated himself from his cohort as the catalyst behind this political upheaval. Following the announcement of an agreed-upon ceasefire, Smotrich was reticent to abandon his support of the Netanyahu-led government. In the face of the promise of Ben-Gvir to have Jewish Power leave the Knesset, Netanyahu courted Smotrich in an effort to keep Religious Zionism in the 7 years it holds in the legislature.


In exchange for his continued support, Smotrich lobbied Netanyahu to immediately break the détente by continuing the war against Hamas following the release of the Israeli hostages in the first phase of the ceasefire. Smotrich has declared that his party is intent upon resigning from the Knesset if that demand is not met. “The prime minister and I have been conducting hectic talks on the matter. He knows what the detailed demands of Religious Zionism are, and the ball is in his hands,” Smotrich said Wednesday, using cryptic language alluding to the ultimatum he put before Netanyahu.

Smotrich's political calculation may have proven to be effective before the ceasefire has even gone into effect. Just 12 hours before the first phase of the agreement is initiated, Netanyahu issued a national address in which he told Israeli's that President Trump "emphasized" to him that the Gaza ceasefire is only "temporary." The public address gives credence to the belief of skeptics that Israel did not agree to the ceasefire in good faith and serves as a subtle acknowledgment of the magnitude of Smotrich and Ben-Gvir's decisions to act as agents of chaos to continue the war against Hamas. In a video statement issued earlier this week, Ben-Gvir conveyed the impact he and Smotrich have had on Netanyahu by asserting that the two were able to undermine similar ceasefire agreements that otherwise could have been agreed upon multiple times in the last year.

Unlike Smotrich, Ben-Gvir has instructed the Knesset members of Jewish Power to resign on Sunday before the ceasefire takes effect and enters into its first phase. If and when Smotrich instructs the members of Religious Zionism to do the same it would mean the Likud-led ruling coalition would only have 55 seats in the 120 seat Knesset. The current opposition to Likud holds 52 seats but with 13 hanging in the balance, new elections to those vacant offices could lead to Netanyahu losing his ruling coalition and possibly his seat as prime minster. The subversion led by Ben-Gvir and Smotrich not only demonstrates the uncertainty of Netanyahu's political future but also how tenuous Israel's commitment to honoring the ceasefire actually is.