In the shadow of the Iron Swords War, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich spoke this week and addressed the war in the south at a press conference on Sunday evening, taking responsibility for the first time for the failure that led to the surprise and brutal attack by the Hamas terrorist organization.
A column of tanks near the Gaza Strip, photo: AFP
"Citizens of Israel, I take responsibility for what happened and what will be," Smotrich said. "The massacre that struck us was the most horrific we knew. Such unimaginable cruelty that the world has not seen since the Holocaust. We must admit honestly, painfully, and with our heads bowed – we failed, the leadership of the state and the defense establishment. We have failed to keep our residents safe. We have not succeeded in fulfilling the contract between the state and the citizens, now it is stained with blood."
"I heard the stories of horrors and on the other hand the stories of heroism, the entire enlightened world understood how incomprehensible the cruelty of our neighbors is, that the threat is not only to the State of Israel but to the world, the only choice we have is the complete destruction of evil, evil, Hamas."
Gaza after the Israeli Air Force airstrikes. Hamas pays a heavy price, photo: AFP
He added: "We are hurting but together we will win, we have faced difficult tests. Our war goal is the total destruction of Hamas. The time will come for the accounts, the concepts, including the mistakes and mishaps of recent times that led to this terrible thing. But now is the time of unity and victory, the entire State of Israel is united behind the IDF." Smotrich also thanked the chairman of the state camp, "who came under the Alokna."
"Today we are managing two fronts at the same time, in my capacity and in the appointment of the government I take responsibility for the Israeli home front and the economy, I assumed to budget for the evacuation and stay of the surviving families."
The aftermath of the destruction in Re'im after the nature party in which Hamas massacred hundreds of people, Photo: AFP
According to him, the main tasks are "the continuity of governmental functioning and the provision of services to the citizen, while balancing the needs, assisting all families and survivors of the massacre and rehabilitating the communities, and supporting the economy."
"I say unequivocally: the Gaza envelope will flourish again, every community, family and person will receive a full response. I say this responsibly, there will be no budgetary limitation and no bureaucratic delay. The Israeli economy is stable, no one will be left alone, the bureaucracy will be reduced to a minimum."
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