White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby on Friday ripped Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who earlier in the day expressed his opposition to the hostage release and ceasefire deal being proposed by the United States.
Smotrich on Friday morning responded to the call by the US, Qatar and Egypt on Israel and Hamas to hold a summit next week in order to finalize the agreement.
"You have to read it to believe it, and above all to understand the distorted and dangerous starting point of those who are pressuring us to stop the war and surrender. The ‘mediators’ actually wrote in their announcement yesterday that ‘the time has come to conclude the ceasefire agreement in Gaza and the release of the hostages and prisoners’ while creating a delusional symmetry between the Israeli hostages - men, women and children - who were kidnapped from their beds with terrible cruelty, and despicable terrorists who murdered Jews and are serving their sentences for it in prisons," said Smotrich.
"Absolutely not. The time to release the hostages came a long time ago. The time has not come to release the abominable Jew-murdering terrorists. And above all, the time has not come for a surrender deal that would stop the war before the destruction of the Nazis of Hamas and ISIS and allow them to rehabilitate and return to murdering Jews again,” he added.
"The time has not come for a dangerous trap in which the ‘mediators’ dictate a ‘formula’ to us and impose on us a surrender agreement, a ‘deal’ that will leave Hezbollah on the fences of the residents of the north and reward terrorism and Iranian attacks against us. A deal that will undermine Israel's deterrence and its image in the Middle East, will present it as a weak patron state and will alienate its friends in the moderate Arab countries that have signed peace agreements with it out of appreciation for its strength and independence," continued Smotrich.
"I call on the Prime Minister not to fall into this trap and not to agree to a move, even the slightest one, from the red lines he set just recently, and which are also very problematic."
Speaking to reporters later on Friday, Kirby said Smotrich’s arguments “are dead wrong” and are “misleading the Israeli public."
“I even saw one claim today, again by Mr. Smotrich, suggesting that the mediators of this deal, which includes the United States, would impose, quote, ‘a surrender agreement on Israel.’ He's saying this as President Biden is actually directing the United States military to the Middle East to directly defend Israel against a potential attack from Iran or other Iranian backed terrorist groups,” said Kirby.
He added that Biden “is fully prepared to defend Israel yet again, with the United States military, and again, this is the second time that he will have done this in four months. The idea that he would support a deal that leaves Israel's security at risk, It's outrageous. And anybody knows President Biden and how staunchly he's been a defender for Israel for the entire day of his public service, ought to be ashamed of thinking simply put the views being taken against this agreement,”
Kirby also claimed that Smotrich’s view “would, in fact, sacrifice the lives of Israeli hostages, his own country, and American hostages as well, and flies in the face of the national superior interest of this critical stage of the war.”
Thursday’s statement by the US, Qatar and Egypt urged Israel and Hamas to hold a summit next week in Cairo or Doha, to bridge all remaining gaps in the proposed hostage release and ceasefire agreement and start implementing it without any delay.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said in response, “Pursuant to the proposal by the US and the mediators, Israel will – on 15 August – send the negotiations team to a place to be determined in order to finalize the details of the implementation of the framework agreement.”
The US has been pushing a three-phase proposal for a ceasefire and hostage release deal which President Joe Biden outlined in late May.
Biden recently indicated that both Israel and Hamas had agreed to the outline and reiterated his determination to implement the proposal, even though Hamas rejected the Biden outline shortly after he presented it.
Recently, a US official said that the negotiations for a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal are in their "closing stages".
On Sunday, Netanyahu commented on the negotiations for a hostage release deal, telling a Cabinet meeting, "I am willing to go a very long way for the release of all our hostages while ensuring Israel's security. Our commitment stands in stark contrast to the leaks and false briefings on the issue of releasing our hostages. These briefings harm the negotiations, and unfortunately - they also mislead the dear families of the hostages. They create a false impression as if Hamas has agreed to the deal, and the Israeli government is the one opposing it."
"The exact opposite is true - the simple truth is, that until this moment Hamas has not agreed to the most basic conditions of the outline. While we have not added any demands to the outline, Hamas is the one that demanded to introduce dozens of changes to it. It has not withdrawn its demand that Israel cannot return to war, it demands that we withdraw from the Philadelphi Corridor and the Rafah Crossing - its lifelines, that will allow it to rearm and strengthen again. It is important to establish the principle - we are not leaving those areas," he added.
(Israel National News' North American desk is keeping you updated until the start of Shabbat in New York. The time posted automatically on all Israel National News articles, however, is Israeli time.)