Religious Zionism Chairman, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich spoke at a faction meeting held in Moshav Avivim, on the Lebanese border, about the ceasefire and the fighting in the south. He opened his remarks mentioning a faction meeting about six months ago on the northern border, where Religious Zionism was the first to call for direct war against Hezbollah.
He stressed that many criticized him then, but today everyone understands the need for the steps that were taken: "Many criticized me for this. They called me an extremist, said I was calling for a dangerous war that Israel would not survive. Now everyone understands how necessary it was to remove the threat over the Galilee and deal Hezbollah painful blows."
"Thank G-d we can say today that we succeeded in changing the situation and seriously harming Hezbollah," Smotrich continued. "Nasrallah and his successor are both underground. Almost the entire military leadership was eliminated. We destroyed most of their capabilities, as well as the infrastructure the prepared to come across the border."
Even so, Smotrich stressed that the mission is not yet complete: "Our goal to preserve the security of Israel and return the residents of the north safely to their homes is not over. It is most important that the IDF has continued full freedom of action in Lebanon to prevent Hezbollah attacks on Israel."
Smotrich also addressed the issue of Hezbollah's breaches of the ceasefire agreement, noting that the IDF continues to attack the terrorist organization on every front: "In recent days the IDF has been attacking by air and on the ground every breach and every threat of terrorism. The government and cabinet must ensure this continues and never allow us to go back to October 6th. If we have to, we will also reconquer southern Lebanon."
Regarding the Iranian threat, Smotrich said: "The axis of evil is weakening, it is fighting within itself. Now we must focus our efforts with our allies to eliminate the evil regime that threatens to destroy Israel and that uses Hezbollah and other terrorist organizations against us. We will succeed in breaking the entire axis of evil."
Regarding the situation in Gaza, Smotrich praised the IDF for its achievements and stressed the need to continue the military pressure on Hamas: "On the southern front, after we managed to isolate Hamas completely, eliminate its leaders, eliminate thousands of terrorists and destroy almost all of its terrorist capabilities, now we must increase military pressure, to prevent humanitarian aid to Hamas, which keeps it alive.”
Finally, Smotrich referred to his initiative as finance minister to rehabilitate the north: "As finance minister, I approved an unprecedented NIS 15 billion governmental plan to rehabilitate the north. We will provide all the necessary assistance to residents whose homes were damaged and we will invest billions more to ensure that businesses flourish here in the north."
Smotrich called, “on all citizens of Israel to help rehabilitate the north. Come here, visit, travel, book vacations in hotels and hostels, so that they will reopen, enjoy tourist sites and nature, support local businesses and factories, to help the residents of the north after the difficult period they endured, to strengthen the precious and beautiful region here so that it will flourish and prosper again very soon."