By The Jerusalem Post (World News) | Created at 2024-12-21 07:45:09 | Updated at 2024-12-21 10:40:49
3 hours ago
Knesset member Michal Woldiger expressed an opinion contrary to much of Israel's senior leadership - that she would support ending the war for the hostages's safe return.
By ELLIE ESQUENAZI, JERUSALEM POST STAFF DECEMBER 21, 2024 09:36
Religious Zionism MK Michal Woldiger. (Illustrative)
(photo credit: REUTERS/FLORION GOGA, YONATAN SINDEL/FLASH90)
Knesset member Michal Woldiger, a member of the Religious Zionist Party, said that she would personally be willing to stop the war in Gaza for a "comprehensive hostage deal," according to footage published on the Knesset's X/Twitter account on Wednesday.
MK Woldiger has been a Knesset member since April 2021 and has a background in law, according to the Knesset website.
Despite Woldiger's comments, Netanyahu told the Wall Street Journal on Friday that Israel would be unwilling to end the war with Hamas remaining in power in the Gaza Strip.
Party leader’s different opinion
Religious Zionist Party leader Bezalel Smotrich has also stood firmly against a ceasefire deal.
“This deal is not beneficial and does not serve the goals and interests of the State of Israel in this war — nor does it ensure the return of the hostages,” Smotrich told a local radio station, the Financial Times reported on Thursday.
Smotrich believes that now is the time to continue pressuring Hamas to return the hostages “as part of their surrender, not ours.”
Despite her perspective not being shared with much of Israel's senior leadership, Woldiger told Knesset TV that she is willing to pay a large price and end the war to bring the hostages home.
Previously, a pause in November 2023 saw the return of over a hundred hostages, but a hundred more remain in Gaza - some of whom have been murdered.
Despite the divide, a Maariv poll published on Friday indicated that 74% of Israelis would support ending the war against Hamas to see the hostages returned.
