As the countdown continues to the US presidential election in November, Donald Trump was assassinated last week and Joe Biden, who is in discussion to run, has been infected with COVID-19.
The most right-wing coalition partner in Israel’s history is also keeping an eye on the U.S. elections. President Joe Biden’s administration has been negotiating a ceasefire with Egypt and Qatar for months, but the guns are not yet quiet.
Relatives of the Israeli hostages have stepped up pressure on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government to reach a deal.
National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, one of the coalition’s fascist ministers, said reaching a ceasefire agreement in the current circumstances would be a slap in the face for Donald Trump and a victory for Biden.
Channel 13 television reported that Ben Gvir, who is also leader of the far-right Jewish Power party, hopes the ceasefire agreement can be accepted after the US presidential election in November.
Itamar Ben Gvir’s comments at the security cabinet meeting drew a response from some ministers. Channel 13 reported that Transport Minister Miri Regev and Science Minister Gila Gamliel strongly criticized Ben Gvir.
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, fascist figures in the Israeli coalition, have been threatening for months to topple the government if a hostage exchange or ceasefire agreement is reached.
The Times of Israel reminded that the director of Israel’s foreign intelligence agency, Mossad, David Barnea, had said the previous day that female hostages in the Gaza Strip had no time to wait.
Mossad director Barnea added that some of Netanyahu’s claims could thwart a ceasefire agreement.
Under the three-phase ceasefire agreement, which has been negotiated over several weeks, women, elderly and sick hostages would be released by Hamas in the first phase, in return for the release of Palestinians held in Israeli prisons.
The far-right Itamar Ben Gvir has made many scandalous statements since the war began, ranging from deporting Palestinians from the Gaza Strip to the Sinai desert or other countries, to Israeli settlement in the territory.
Ben Gvir, who frequently accompanied police in raids on Masjid Al-Aqsa, the Muslim holiest shrine, repeated the same scandal this morning.
