Religious Zionist Party MK: "We will likely leave the government"

MK Zvi Sukkot of the Religious Zionist Party was asked about his party’s stance on leaving the government over the hostage deal. He suggested that it’s only a matter of time before his party withdraws.

"We will convene this morning and decide, but the chances are that we will withdraw from the government," he told Kan Reshet Bet this morning. "There is no promise for us that the war will continue."

Sukkot emphasized that his party’s aim is to fundamentally change the DNA of Israel, not to retain power for its own sake. "The situation will lead to a withdrawal from the government," he said. "We do not want to leave the government, but our boundaries have been crossed. This is a question of yes or no—the question of whether the war will continue and whether Hamas will return to rule Gaza."

He further explained: "I don’t see anything more important than this—not budgets, not positions, not a change in direction in Judea and Samaria, or even the end of the Palestinian state."

A statement from the Religious Zionist Party: "Aside from the longing for the return of all our hostages, the religious Zionist faction strongly opposes the deal. The faction stands behind the demands of the party's chairman, Minister Bezalel Smotrich, and Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, to ensure Israel's return to the war to destroy Hamas and the return of all the hostages, while changing the concept of decision and victory, immediately after the end of the first phase of the deal, and this as a condition for the party's remaining in the government and coalition."

* Arutz 7 contributed to this article.