The alliance between the United States and Israel “has never been so strong,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told lawmakers on Monday, praising President Donald Trump for offering “a new and revolutionary vision for the day after Hamas,” and pledging not to repeat the “mistake” of the Oslo Accords by allowing the Palestinian Authority back into the Gaza Strip.
Addressing the Knesset ahead of a vote of no-confidence in his government, Netanyahu said his recent visit to Washington constituted a major “vote of confidence” from the administration in his leadership and in the government of Israel.
The vote, which accused Netanyahu’s government of promoting draft evasion, failed to obtain the necessary votes to pass.
“Throughout my years as prime minister, I have met with the president of the United States 20 times at the White House. But the historic meeting with President Trump was the most important and friendly I have ever had with an American president,” Netanyahu declared, as opposition lawmakers jeered and interrupted his prepared remarks.
Multiple lawmakers, including Elazar Stern, Vladimir Beliak, Gilad Kariv and Merav Cohen, were removed from the chamber, after they repeatedly yelled at the prime minister — prompting Shas chairman Aryeh Deri to yell back that Netanyahu’s speech might be “hard for you to hear, but it’s true.”
Netanyahu continued: “After a challenging period, we see eye to eye with the US administration on the essential issues on the agenda in the Middle East – the realization of all our war goals.”
“President Trump presented a new and revolutionary vision for the day after Hamas, so that a terrorist state will not be established again in Gaza. And I add, not only in Gaza — anywhere on our borders,” Netanyahu said.
“You said that Hamas cannot be defeated if there is no vision for the day after. You said that there is no choice but to bring back the Palestinian Authority, the same authority that pays murderers and portrays human monsters as heroes,” Netanyahu declared, addressing the opposition.
“I am returning from the US with a different vision, without Hamas and without the PA. Trump’s vision is new, creative, revolutionary and he is determined to implement it. You talked about ‘the day after’ [plan for Gaza] — so you got your ‘day after’! Only it doesn’t match the Oslo vision. Because we will not repeat this mistake again and again, like you,” he said.
While hosting Netanyahu at the White House last Tuesday and repeatedly since then, Trump has played up his proposal, roundly rejected by Arab nations, to permanently relocate Palestinians living in the decimated coastal enclave abroad.
Trump insisted the Palestinians “have no alternative” but to leave the “big pile of rubble” that is Gaza after over 16 months of war — and declared his desire for the United States to “take over” and “own” the Strip.
The White House later sought to soften the comments, saying the relocation was meant to be temporary. However, Trump on Monday told Fox News that under his plan Palestinians would not be permitted to return.
Netanyahu has repeatedly praised the US president’s proposal, calling it “remarkable” and telling his cabinet that his meetings with Trump administration officials will provide Israel with opportunities “we never dreamed of.”
Following Trump’s statement, Defense Minister Israel Katz ordered the IDF to prepare a plan to enable Gazans to leave the Strip voluntarily, while former national security minister Itamar Ben Gvir said that the odds of his far-right Otzma Yehudit party rejoining the coalition had gone up significantly.
Netanyahu on Monday also boasted that US officials had praised his government’s moves “to eliminate the Iranian axis” by assassinating senior Hamas and Hezbollah officials during the war, “great achievements that were until recently unimaginable dreams.”
“Most of you supported the cessation of the war at a very early stage,” Netanyahu told the opposition. “Before all these brilliant achievements. Imagine what would have happened to us if I had surrendered to you. If you had surrendered to you.”
“We know what complete victory is, and we will not give up on it,” the prime minister declared, shaking his fist.
Turning to the issue of the hostages, Netanyahu claimed his approach had been vindicated, claiming the senior leadership of Israel’s security services had initially insisted that it would be impossible to bring back hostages.
“I argued differently. I thought and believed that the combination of the heroism of our fighters and the aggressiveness of the political establishment would lead to the release of the vast majority of our hostages and I am determined to return them all,” he said — arguing Israel’s military campaign in the southern Gaza city of Rafah was responsible for bringing the terror group to the table and led it to accept “the deal I presented.”
The IDF entered Rafah and the Philadelphi Corridor on the Egypt-Gaza border in May 2024, the same month then-US president Joe Biden announced a proposal for a hostage-ceasefire deal very similar to the one that came into effect in January. However, the US and Israel have said Hamas repeatedly rejected ceasefire proposals, until accepting the current deal in January.
Arguing that because of his insistence, Israel “more than doubled the number of live hostages being released,” Netanyahu said that he was shocked by the gaunt and frail appearance of the latest batch of released hostages.
“Whoever is responsible for this will pay,” he pledged — adding that his government will “complete the defeat of Hamas,” return the rest of the hostages, approve the 2025 state budget, and pass an ultra-Orthodox conscription law.
Addressing the Knesset following Netanyahu, Opposition Leader Yair Lapid launched a bitter attack on his political rival.
“You just said here on the podium that you were shocked by the sight of the hostages who were released on Saturday,” Lapid said in his response to the prime minister’s remarks.
“I just don’t understand why you were shocked. You knew that was their situation. The security establishment has said time and time again that they are in cages, [that they’re] starving skeletons — you knew…the whole government knew, the whole cabinet knew,” Lapid stated, calling on Netanyahu to come with him to Hostages Square in Tel Aviv to show that he cares and that he “did not decide to leave them there to die because of political considerations.”
Lapid’s comments came several hours after he said that while he is “against transfer and expulsion by force,” he does support allowing any Gazan who wishes to leave the Strip to relocate.
Addressing reporters in the Knesset before Netanyahu’s speech, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich — who has threatened to bolt the coalition if the ceasefire advances to a potential second phase — called on the government to completely halt “humanitarian aid to Hamas,” and “permanently occupy territory” in Gaza.
Smotrich also said that Israel should encourage Palestinians to migrate from the Strip, “in cooperation with President Trump, who understands well the root of the conflict and the only realistic solution.” He urged Netanyahu to bring the plan to the cabinet.
“This is the only realistic way to force Hamas to surrender, wave a white flag, and flee for its life in exchange for the release of all the hostages, down to the last one,” Smotrich insisted.
Continuing the deal would endanger Israeli and Diaspora Jews, Smotrich said, rejecting criticism of his opposition to the deal by a cousin of recently released hostage Ofer Calderon as “emotional manipulation.”
Netanyahu’s handling of the conflict came under significant criticism by opposition leaders on Monday afternoon, with The Democrats’ chief Yair Golan claiming that the government “has lost its humanity” and “is a criminal government.”
National Unity chief Benny Gantz slammed the government’s decision on Sunday evening to postpone a decision on establishing a state commission of inquiry into the failures surrounding the October 7 attack, while Yesh Atid’s Lapid announced the launch of a public campaign aimed at pressuring the government to establish such a probe.
“They don’t want us to know. They don’t want us to know that the prime minister saw the intelligence and ignored it,” Lapid told reporters.
“They don’t want us to remember that their policy was to strengthen Hamas. They don’t want us to know that they could have prevented the October 7 assault and didn’t. They don’t want us to know how decisions have been made since October 7 and why the hostages are not home yet.”