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Smotrich Slams Ben Gvir for Leaving Government, Skirting ‘National Responsibility’
Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich speaks at a news conference after announcing that he will sign an order to seize Palestinian Authority funds and transfer them to the families of victims of Palestinian attacks, at Israel’s Finance Ministry in Jerusalem, January 8, 2023. Photo: REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun
i24 News – Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said he decided to remain in the coalition, unlike fellow right-wing firebrand National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, out of “national responsibility.”
Speaking on Sunday, he responded to Ben Gvir’s calls for him and his party, Religious Zionism, to join Otzma Yehudit’s ministers in leaving the coalition over the hostage release and ceasefire deal.
“I didn’t resign because I have a national responsibility to win and secure, and I’m ready to pay a price for it,” he said. He added that he is not fleeing the battle in the middle of the war, “even after a painful loss in one of its battles, just to keep my hands clean.”
The issue was a matter of life and death, Smotrich said, which Israel could not afford to play with. Any ultimatum between Ben Gvir and Smotrich “would have provoked a counter one from [Shas chairman Aryeh] Deri and the ultra-Orthodox” parties.
Scuttling the deal for “political reasons” would cause a “galactic explosion,” Smotrich said, adding “I’m not sure the person who pushed for it understands its meaning.” Such an event, he said, would lead to a societal and political crisis, with streets burning from demonstrations. the burning of the streets.
Smotrich argued that if he was going to step down from the government, it would be an easy and expected step. He said the decision to leave was made out of “a lack of national irresponsibility,” and that is amounted to “fleeing from the battlefield in the height of the war.” Smotrich said he intends to turn the deal from a strategic defeat to a tactical loss, so that Israel could return to fight “until the destruction of Hamas, to ensure that the message will reverberate that anyone who kidnaps Jews dies.”
“The supreme goal was and remains a complete victory over Hamas in Gaza,” he added. “The continuation of successful operations that received a lot of divine support last year in all areas of warfare and brought about great achievements, at enormous painful costs.”
“Toppling the government would inevitably lead to the cessation of the war,” Smotrich concluded. “The left would have given [Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu a safety net for a few months, only against the commitment to continue to the next stages of the deal and to end the war without destroying Hamas and toppling its rule in Gaza. Our remaining in the government on the condition of working towards victory gives a great chance of success in doing so.”
The post Smotrich Slams Ben Gvir for Leaving Government, Skirting ‘National Responsibility’ first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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‘With or Without Russia’s Help’: Iran Pledges to Block South Caucasus Route Opened Up By Peace Deal
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a cabinet meeting at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., July 8, 2025. Photo: Kevin Lamarque via Reuters Connect.
i24 News – Iran will block the establishment of a US-backed transit corridor in the South Caucasus region with or without Moscow’s help, a senior adviser to Iran’s supreme leader was quoted as saying on Saturday by the Iran International website, one day after the historic peace agreement between Azerbaijan and Armenia.
“Mr. Trump thinks the Caucasus is a piece of real estate he can lease for 99 years,” Ali Akbar Velayati said of the so-called Zangezur corridor, the establishment of which is stipulated in the peace deal unveiled on Friday by US President Donald Trump. The White House said the transit route would facilitate greater exports of energy and other resources.
“This passage will not become a gateway for Trump’s mercenaries — it will become their graveyard,” the Khamenei advisor added.
Baku and Yerevan have been at loggerheads since the late 1980s when Nagorno-Karabakh, a mountainous Azerbaijani region mostly populated by ethnic Armenians, broke away from Azerbaijan with support from Armenia. Azerbaijan took back full control of the region in 2023, prompting or forcing almost all of the territory’s 100,000 ethnic Armenians to flee to Armenia.
Yet that painful history was put to the side on Friday at the White House, as Trump oversaw a signing ceremony, flanked by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.
The peace deal with Azerbaijan—a pro-Western ally of Israel—is expected to pull Armenia out of the Russian and Iranian sphere of influence and could transform the South Caucasus, an energy-producing region neighboring Russia, Europe, Turkey and Iran.
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UK Police Arrest 150 at Protest for Banned Palestine Action Group
People holding signs sit during a rally organised by Defend Our Juries, challenging the British government’s proscription of “Palestine Action” under anti-terrorism laws, in Parliament Square, in London, Britain, August 9, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Jaimi Joy
London’s Metropolitan Police said on Saturday it had arrested 150 people at a protest against Britain’s decision to ban the group Palestine Action, adding it was making further arrests.
Officers made arrests after crowds, waving placards expressing support for the group, gathered in Parliament Square, the force said on X.
Protesters, some wearing black and white Palestinian scarves, chanted “shame on you” and “hands off Gaza,” and held signs such as “I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action,” video taken by Reuters at the scene showed.
In July, British lawmakers banned Palestine Action under anti-terrorism legislation after some of its members broke into a Royal Air Force base and damaged planes in protest against Britain’s support for Israel.
The ban makes it a crime to be a member of the group, carrying a maximum sentence of 14 years in prison.
The co-founder of Palestine Action, Huda Ammori, last week won a bid to bring a legal challenge against the ban.
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‘No Leniency’: Iran Announces Arrest of 20 ‘Zionist Agents’
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi addresses a special session of the Human Rights Council at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, June 20, 2025. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse
i24 News – Iranian authorities have in recent months arrested 20 people charged with being “Israeli Mossad operatives,” the judiciary said, adding that the Islamic regime will mete out the harshest punishments.
“The judiciary will show no leniency toward spies and agents of the Zionist regime, and with firm rulings, will make an example of them all,” spokesperson Asghar Jahangiri told Iranian media. However, it is understood that an unspecified number of detainees were released, apparently after the charges against them could not be substantiated.
The Islamic Republic was left reeling by a devastating 12-day war with Israel earlier in the summer that left a significant proportion of its military arsenal in ruins and dealt a serious setback to its uranium enrichment program. The fallout included an uptick in executions of Iranians convicted of spying for Israel, with at least eight death sentences carried out in recent months. Hit with international sanctions, the country is in dire economic straights, with frequent energy outages and skyrocketing unemployment.
In recent weeks Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi affirmed that Tehran cannot give up on its nuclear enrichment program even as it was severely damaged during the war.
“It is stopped because, yes, damages are serious and severe. But obviously we cannot give up of enrichment because it is an achievement of our own scientists. And now, more than that, it is a question of national pride,” the official told Fox News.