A two-pronged approach is needed in order to secure a hostage ceasefire deal with Hamas, former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett told Newsmax on Monday.
Hamas has "been playing cat-and-mouse games the whole time since Oct. 7," Bennett told "National Report."
"I believe that what we need to get it [a hostage ceasefire deal] done is to increase the military pressure on Hamas while, at the same time, allow a path for a deal to release all of our hostages."
The former Israeli prime minster said that "many are very hopeful that the entrance of President-elect [Donald] Trump will also bring good news regarding a major hostage deal that would release all of the hostages. Many Israelis have high hopes for this, not unlike President Reagan, who came in and brought home the American hostages in Iran in 1981."
Bennett also spoke about the shaky ceasefire agreement on the northern border, saying that "since the truce was agreed upon, Hezbollah consistently violates the ceasefire terms."
He said: "The main term there is that Hezbollah is not allowed to be present in the whole zone near Israel … the idea there is that they can't rebuild their huge terror base and potentially do a second Oct. 7, this time from the north."
Bennett, said, however, that "unfortunately we see them time and again entering the zone, bringing weapons. If they stop this, the ceasefire will remain in effect."
The former Israeli prime minster also talked about the sudden emergence of the Syrian rebels, saying that "we are following this very closely," because what you see there is a war between radical jihad extremists from both the Sunni and Shiite streams, with both of them savage organizations."
Bennett stressed that "it's a very complicated war between two strands of radical Islam. Right now, they are hitting each other, but we certainly won't be surprised if it will overflow and hit Western interests."
He pointed out that there is a very positive group, the Kurds, who he called "real freedom fighters" with liberal values.
Bennett said that the West should help the Kurds, because "everyone agrees they are a positive force in the region."
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Brian Freeman ✉
Brian Freeman, a Newsmax writer based in Israel, has more than three decades writing and editing about culture and politics for newspapers, online and television.
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