Israel Security Minister Ben-Gvir threatens Israeli government collapse if Hamas remains intact
Demonstrators carry flags and placards as families of hostages and their supporters protest ahead of the two-year anniversary of the deadly October 7, 2023, attack on Israel by Hamas, demanding the immediate release of all hostages and the end of the war in Gaza, in Jerusalem, October 4, 2025 (Photo: REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun)
JERUSALEM: Far-right Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir warned on Thursday (Oct 9) that his Jewish Power party would push to topple Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government unless Hamas is ultimately dismantled.
"If the Hamas government is not dismantled, or if they only tell us that it is dismantled while in reality it continues to exist under a different guise - Jewish Power will dismantle the government," Ben-Gvir said in a statement ahead of a Netanyahu Cabinet meeting to approve a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release plan.
Ben Gvir said on Thursday he would vote against a United States-sponsored Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal with Hamas as it proposes releasing hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.
"The heart of all of us fills with joy ... at the fact that all the hostages are expected to return ... However, alongside this joy, it is absolutely forbidden to ignore the question of the price: the release of thousands of terrorists, including 250 murderers who are expected to be freed from prisons. This is an unbearable heavy price," Ben Gvir wrote on X.
"I cannot vote in favour of a deal that releases those murderous terrorists, and we will oppose it in the government," he said in a statement posted while the Israeli cabinet was voting on the deal.
Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas signed an agreement on Thursday for a ceasefire and to free Israeli hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners, the first phase of US President Donald Trump's initiative to end the two-year war.
