Smotrich Raises the Bar: 6 Red Lines Before Netanyahu and Trump's Meeting

SadaNews - Israeli Finance Minister and leader of the "Religious Zionism" party, Bezalel Smotrich, has outlined what he described as the red lines that cannot be compromised in any forthcoming agreement regarding the war in Gaza, just ahead of a meeting between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S. President Donald Trump.

Smotrich stated: "One of the key lessons learned from the events of October 7 and the war we have been fighting since then across all sectors, is that Israel's security is not achieved through diplomatic agreements that are worth no more than the paper they are written on, or through false commitments and guarantees, or through changing governments, but through actions, our control over the land, and a strict and relentless application that relies exclusively on the Israel Defense Forces and our security institutions."

He continued: "Therefore, the red lines that I communicated to the Prime Minister, which I made clear that Religious Zionism will not concede anything less than these, are as follows:"

- A genuine and complete withdrawal of Hamas from Gaza, and a complete and genuine dismantling of all terrorist infrastructures above and below ground.

- The Israeli army will always remain in the vicinity of Gaza, including the Philadelphia Corridor, and will maintain full operational freedom in all areas of the Gaza Strip, prevent smuggling, and protect the southern settlements.

- There will be no Palestinian Authority intervention in Gaza, neither today nor in the future, neither explicitly nor implicitly.

- There will be no mention, even to the slightest degree, of a Palestinian state that could threaten the existence of Israel.

- There will be no Qatari intervention in Gaza.

- Gaza will no longer be a prison where people are unlawfully and immorally held captive merely to harm the state of Israel.

Smotrich added: "Regarding the West Bank, we expect to seize the historic opportunity of the Trump administration to completely remove the idea of establishing a state and dividing the land from the agenda, to cement the fact that the West Bank is an integral part of the sovereign state of Israel, politically and practically, and to propose a different plan for managing the lives of the Arabs in Judea and Samaria separately from the collective and national aspirations that seek to destroy us."

According to informed sources to the newspaper "Yedioth Ahronoth", Netanyahu appears to be in "a state of extreme anxiety and agitation" ahead of the meeting, amid fears that Trump might adopt a strict stance regarding Israel's reservations on some provisions of the U.S. plan, which includes 21 points and encompasses security and political arrangements for after the war in the Gaza Strip.

According to the sources, Netanyahu's accompanying team is working on amending the final wording of the plan, amid what a diplomatic source described as "a frantic struggle for influence over the U.S. decision," as each party seeks to ensure the incorporation of its demands into the final document.