Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich on Monday morning said he hopes the hostages return, but any deal to bring them back must be carefully thought out.
Speaking to Kan Reshet Bet, Smotrich explained, "We will not make an irresponsible deal. We will not make a deal to surrender. I supported the previous deal, but I have red lines."
"Regarding the end of the war, we need to discuss each scenario separately. I find releasing terrorists repulsive, in every cell of my body. There's a dilemma. Don't be jealous of us, who sit in the Cabinet and make these decisions. We have two goals and we must not allow the important goal of bringing the hostages back destroy the second goal of dismantling Hamas."
Smotrich stressed, "The State of Israel cannot allow itself to lose this war. What happened on October 7 cannot happen. And we need to dismantle Hamas. There was a consensus about this, and we agreed on the goals of this war on the first day."
Regarding the ceasefire deal signed between Israel and Lebanon, he stated, "The feeling of missing an opportunity is very understandable after the strategic success. There were diplomatic reasons which were publicized. The US government held a gun to our foreheads."
Smotrich also spoke about his Sunday visit to Avivim in northern Israel: "I told the residents that if I were in their position, I would understand their concerns. At the same time, the IDF is still in the area. Our position was confirmed in the Cabinet decision- there are limitations that everyone is aware of. The agreement does not allow Hezbollah to rebuild its terror infrastructure in southern Lebanon."
"I do not want to discuss the residents' return. We will hold a meeting with the leaders of the various towns. I want to give the residents' back their feeling of security, and we will do a gradual and responsible return. At the same time, there is a plan for development. It depends on the decision of the residents. Money is not lacking, there is a property tax fund, and this fund has enough money, and I'm not worried."
Responding to criticism from the opposition, he said, "I try to be on point and responsible. Sometimes I also make mistakes. I want to believe that if I were in the opposition and not familiar with the details, perhaps I would be critical and off topic."
When asked about the possibility of resettling Gaza, Smotrich replied, "I am a right-wing individual who believes in settling the Land of Israel. It could be that if we settled in Gaza, this horrific massacre would not have happened. We have discussions about the 'day after,' this is not part of the goals of the war, there are discussions, there is an estimate regarding the day after. There is a very raw discussion about the 'day after.'"
"There was a stage when we wanted to put our disagreements on the side. As time passes, everyone is busy with the 'day after.' From my perspective, the right thing to do is to conquer Gaza and return the settlements. This isn't part of the goals of the war. From my perspective, the goals of the war are to remove the threat Gaza presents to the residents of Israel. We do that by dismantling Hamas. We need to destroy Hamas."