Overview
- Bezalel Smotrich, in a Radio 103fm interview Tuesday, said forming a government with United Arab List leader Mansour Abbas was more grave than the October 7 massacre.
- He added that knowingly partnering with what he called supporters of Hamas was “1,000 times worse” than a catastrophic security failure.
- Hours later he posted a clarification that targeted the media as “wicked liars,” said he was judging a political choice rather than the massacre itself, and insisted he did not belittle the victims.
- United Arab List chairman Mansour Abbas called the remarks wretched and immoral and said the Bennett-era coalition that included his party was a thousand times preferable to what he called Smotrich’s October 7 government.
- In the same interview Smotrich criticized Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s war conduct and urged changes to Israel’s borders, saying Israel should seize territory in Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, and the West Bank, a stance that highlights hardening divides reported differently by right-leaning and left-leaning outlets.