National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir faced calls for his sacking Thursday after he quipped online that the Hamas terror group loves Joe Biden, in reaction to the US president’s comments to CNN that he would freeze arms transfers to Israel should the military advance into the Gazan city of Rafah.
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“If [Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu does not fire Ben Gvir today, he is endangering every soldier in the IDF and every citizen in the State of Israel,” Lapid declared in a statement on Thursday morning.
He later called on Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, Benny Gantz and Gadi Eisenkot — the first two are members of the war cabinet and the third is an observer in it — to press Netanyahu for Ben Gvir’s ouster.
The three, seen as leading voices of moderation tamping down on far-right forces within Netanyahu’s government, should “not suffice with condemnations this time, they should demand the dismissal of Itamar Ben Gvir,” he said.
Ben Gvir’s tweet was one of several fuming reactions from government figures Thursday morning following Biden’s warning that the US would stop providing offensive weapons to Israel if it pushed ahead with a planned offensive in Rafah, seen as the last major Hamas redoubt in Gaza but also home to over a million displaced Gazans who are sheltering there after fleeing other parts of the Strip.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/ben-gvir-hammered-by-president-opposition-over-hamas/ 