MK Yitzhak Kroizer (Otzma Yehudit) blasted MK Ofer Cassif in an interview with Arutz Sheva-Israel National News, and also proposed a solution for how to bring back the hostages while stating his belief that Israel did not act correctly in the withdrawal of IDF forces from Lebanon.
He began the interview by commenting on the latest firestorm caused by Cassif, who compared US President Donald Trump’s plan for Gaza to the relocation of Jews during the Holocaust.
In response, Otzma Yehudit chairman Itamar Ben Gvir and the other members of the party submitted a bill stipulating that a Knesset member can be removed from the Knesset with a majority of only 80 Knesset members. The current situation allows for the removal of an MK only with a majority of 90 supporters. A previous initiative to oust Cassif from the Knesset failed to pass because it was five votes short of the required 90.
"It's a shame and disgrace that Ofer Cassif still sits in the Knesset of Israel as a legislator. We shouted out about it, and I very much hope that everyone will sign the bill, and we will see this despicable Ofer Cassif being the first to be expelled, we will encourage him to leave the State of Israel, he has no business being here in this country, the law will remove him from the Knesset," said Kroizer.
On the hostage deal, Kroizer said, "We will not succeed in bringing everyone back this way, this doesn't encourage emigration, this doesn't change the reality, this solves the problem temporarily, but not permanently. That is why, Otzma Yehudit has suggested from day one the most appropriate solution for the residents of Gaza, for the residents of the State of Israel, and certainly the right way to bring back the hostages."
He detailed the solutions his party is demanding, "Stopping the fuel, stopping humanitarian aid, certainly not bringing in cement and various things that have no connection to humanitarian aid, this is aiding the enemy during wartime. Encouraging voluntary migration to change the reality, so we can bring back the last hostage and also those who were murdered for burial."
He added, "In order to bring back the last of the hostages, you need to think outside the box - as President Trump said, bring hell upon them, open the gates of hell on the Gaza Strip, encourage migration. When there are no Gazans in the Gaza Strip, there will be no one to come here to kidnap children from Kfar Aza, no one to launch rockets at the citizens of the State of Israel. We saw when there were Jews in the Gaza Strip, agriculture flourished, and this area was bustling with life."
On the possibility of the Palestinian Authority controlling Gaza after the war, Kroizer responded, "Hamas and the Palestinian Authority are the same thing, we like to paint them with different names, Tanzim, Fatah, Hamas, Houthis, Hezbollah…these are Muslims who want to kill Jews, want to destroy our only state, our Jewish state, and this is the proof, Hamas and Fatah are the same."
Kroizer also spoke about his bill that will come up for preliminary reading on Wednesday, "My bill will stop the activities of the Palestinian Authority, of Hamas, in the territories of the State of Israel, on the way to dismantling this entity called the Palestinian Authority-Hamas. These are the same people, the same terrorist organizations, who have been working for decades to murder and massacre the citizens of the State of Israel, and it's time we put an end to it for ourselves and for the entire region, so there will be a Jewish democratic state here for the citizens of Israel who can live here in peace and security."
As a resident of the north, he commented on the IDF's withdrawal from Lebanon, saying, "The State of Israel should have created a buffer zone without the Lebanese, from the Blue Line, from the border to the Litani, to hold and keep it until the last resident in the north returns. We demand a long-term solution, a buffer zone, certainly as is happening now in Syrian territory, so it should also be done in Lebanese territory."
Watch the Hebrew interview:
