The prime minister faces mounting pressure from all sides of Israel’s fractured political landscape, torn between his far-right coalition partners demanding the war continue and captives’ families urging him to accept a deal, experts say. Speaking to Al Jazeera, Menachem Klein, professor of political science at Bar-Ilan University, said the proposed agreement has thrown the Israeli right wing into “crisis”. “Israel faces a rethinking. The extreme right wing has to say goodbye to its dreams of achieving evacuation of Gaza and settlements inside Gaza,” Klein said. “The Israeli right wing is in a crisis, and the same goes for several army officers in Gaza.” Netanyahu remains beholden to the ultranationalist parties Religious Zionism, headed by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, and Jewish Power, led by National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who have threatened to collapse the government if Israel agrees to end the war before achieving what they call “total victory” in Gaza. “For the Israeli right wing, this is the dream coalition. They will never have a better one,” Klein said. “I assume Netanyahu promised Smotrich and Ben-Gvir to spoil the agreement after the hostages are back home and resume the war.”
