U.S. President Donald Trump is wasting his time trying to push for an Israeli-Palestinian peace plan, Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked said Wednesday.
Shaked said that reaching peace is currently impossible and that Trump should focus his energy elsewhere until the Palestinians are ready to compromise.
Speaking at a diplomatic conference in Jerusalem, Shaked said, "I think, personally, it's a waste of time. I want peace like anyone else, but I don't believe it's possible to reach an agreement."
The U.S. is preparing to release its long-anticipated Middle East peace plan, which Trump calls the "deal of the century."
Trump's Middle East team, headed by his adviser and son-in-law, Jared Kushner, has been working on a peace proposal for months but has not said when it will be released. The Palestinians consider the plan a non-starter, accusing Trump of being unfairly biased toward Israel.
Addressing the situation in Gaza, Shaked said, "I think the cease-fire will hold for a few months and then fall apart. If the cease-fire is broken, there will be no option other than fight Hamas with all the means at our disposal."
As for the political crisis that erupted earlier this week following the resignation of former Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman, Shaked said that the "right decision would have been to appoint [Habayit Hayehudi leader Naftali] Bennett as defense minister. Israel needs a full-time defense minister."
"The prime minister needs a strong defense minister next to him. Unfortunately, he thinks otherwise. We are a strong country and Hamas is just a terrorist organization. But in recent years we have lost our deterrence," she told the audience.
