Posted on 01/31/24
| News Source: Arutz-7
National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir Delivered a speech under the title "The Goat Speech" regarding the reported proposal for a prisoner exchange agreement.
“We have heard this week all manner of press briefings and media leaks, with insane and excessive numbers, of what Israel is supposed to give the Nazi organization Hamas as part of a prisoner exchange deal.”
He explained the process he claims is behind the reports: “The reports of a deal are presumably a sacrificial goat intended to prepare us for a slightly less extreme deal. It is still a wildly irresponsible deal by any measure.”
Ben-Gvir denounced the deal: “The hundreds of IDF casualties are not sacrificial goats, and neither are the families of the fallen, the thousands of soldiers wounded or disabled, the residents of the south who have lived for years under fire, the citizens of Israel - and neither, Mr. Prime Minister, am I.”
“I therefore state from this august podium in the clearest of terms that we will not allow a situation in which Hamas wins. We will not allow a deal that results in a victory for how much and the continuation of terrorism. Five hundred IDF soldiers did not die in vain.”
He recalled a previous deal that had led to additional terrorism: “We will not allow Hamas to continue to threaten the residents of the south, and we will not allow thousands of murders to be released from prison. We have not yet seen the last of the attacks committed by those released in the deal for Gilad Shalit. I say these things so that there is no doubt for anyone. Have we learned nothing from the collapse of the misconception? Have we learned nothing from the Shalit deal?”
Ben-Gvir likewise criticized American involvement in the process: "I heard the White House's response, that ‘Netanyahu can speak for himself, but the negotiations are proceeding’. Have the Americans officially begun to manage the government of Israel without informing it as much?”
He explained why the US was unwelcome in the negotiations: “We are losing even the official appearance that Israel's government makes its own decisions. We will not become a banana republic, which may be what the left here wants. Perhaps they want President Biden to decide for us.”
He warned against anyone in the coalition trying to cast the situation differently: “If someone here intends to obscure matters, and then within three hours convene an urgent cabinet meeting to approve a ‘finished deal’ under pressure, they are mistaken. The public will not agree and neither will we. I say this most clearly, that we have a moral obligation to recover the hostages, but we have a no less important obligation to provide security for the citizens of Israel and to ensure that the Next October 7th massacre does not happen again. We must ensure that the Iron Dome can be removed from the south.”
Ben-Gvir laid out what he believed to be the goals of the war: “We must completely remove the Hamas threat, leaving it no way to rule its territory, not allowing it to maintain a force of thousands of terrorists, not to allow it to remain in control of its logistical route, which is known as the Philadelphi corridor. We are now presented with a historic opportunity to kill the Nazi monster that has grown in our backyard. True leadership will see years into the future, understand the meaning of its actions, and not act according to pressures and impulses, not even those of our beloved friends in the United States.”
He ended by reiterating a previous warning against the deal and calling for the rest of the government to join him: “I say in the clearest of terms that if we miss this opportunity, and instead of eliminating Hamas support it, this government will have no right to exist. I say again in the clearest of terms - an irresponsible deal will lead to the disbanding of the government. I expect and believe that my fellow members of the government and the Prime Minister will oppose an irresponsible deal. They have already brought us all manner of deals and troubles. We need to bring a new reality to the state of Israel, and we must not miss this opportunity.”