Culture and Sports Minister Miki Zohar, during a Likud faction meeting on Monday evening, expressed opposition to Israeli military control of the Gaza Strip after the war.
"Anyone here who calls for a military government knows that he will later go to the homes of the mothers who will lose, probably hundreds if not more soldiers, and explain to them why their children fell."
Minister Zohar was heard shouting, in a recording published by Kan 11 News reporter Michael Shemesh, that military control means "to manage these murderers, to manage people who supported terrorism, who encouraged terrorism, who took Hamas as their leader which led to this mass murder, why should I go be their babysitter?"
He asked his fellow faction members to think again about military control of the Gaza Strip. "Think about it before you make statements about a military government."
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant explained at the meeting why he is against military control of the Gaza Strip, saying, "This will make the military service four years, we don't have enough soldiers for that."
At the same time, amid the criticism of him, he stressed, "I am against a Palestinian state, neither Hamas nor Israel should be there. I think the least bad alternative is a local factor. [But] there are no volunteers among factors in the world."