Face to face with Israel’s Energy Minister Eli Cohen

Photo: Flash90

Last week, after a year and a half of threats that were beginning to sound empty, Israel’s government finally cut off the supply of electricity to the Gaza Strip, effectively immediately. Energy Minister Eli Cohen signed the order instructing the Israel Electric Company to pull the plug.

“We will use every tool at our disposal to return all the hostages,” Cohen told me this week. “Cutting off electricity is another step that ups the pressure on Hamas, along with the cessation of humanitarian aid and other steps we’re taking. We’re committed to returning all the hostages to their families, and to ensuring that Hamas won’t be in Gaza the day after.”

Welcome the man of the hour, energy minister and cabinet member Eli Cohen, who started the term as foreign minister before trading positions with Yisrael Katz. After Katz himself later replaced Yoav Gallant as defense minister, the foreign ministry went to Gideon Saar, who reentered the right-wing fold.

Eli Cohen is seen as one of the more entrenched Likud figures. Born in Holon in 1972, he worked his way up in the business world before joining the Likud. He regularly appears on lists of Israel’s who’s who. His relatively moderate positions align with the Likud base and to a large extent reflect the views of authentic Likud voters. On Erev Purim, I sat down with him to discuss some timely issues.

Let’s start with the Gaza electricity cutoff. How significant is it? It hasn’t exactly plunged Gaza into biblical darkness.

First, it absolutely is significant. Second, it’s true that while cutting off their electricity makes problems for them, it won’t necessarily plunge Gaza into darkness. They can generate electricity with fuel, solar power, and other energy sources. But we cut off the supply from Israel, and that’s a significant step, and we’ll do whatever else it takes to bring all the hostages back.

Yasser Arafat famously advised anyone opposed to the idea of a Palestinian state to “drink from the sea of Gaza” [an Arabic expression equivalent to “go jump in a lake”]. Do you think that now Israel will turn the tables and cut off the supply of water to the Strip? Can we withstand the international pressure?

We will withstand it, because we have no choice. And we’re doing what’s necessary now, with full American backing. In my view, and I say this as a minister and cabinet member, we shouldn’t stop here. We should cut off the water supply, too. As long as the hostages remain in Gaza, the Gazans can drink from the sea.

Let’s move on to a topic generating intense public interest of late — the formation of a state commission of inquiry into the events of October 7. Over the past few weeks, the IDF and the Shin Bet have released the harrowing findings of their internal probes. What about the government’s internal probe? When will you form a state commission of inquiry?

First, there will be a state commission of inquiry. We’ll find the right time to establish it — after the end of the war in Gaza and the other fronts. At this time, we want the soldiers and commanders of the IDF to focus on victory, not looking over their shoulders at a committee.

But there’s been a ceasefire in place for almost two months. If not now, when?

There’s been a six-week ceasefire, but a resumption of the fighting in Gaza is a very realistic scenario. As a member of the cabinet, I can tell you that that option is on the table right now. If Hamas doesn’t accept our demands, we’ll resume intensive military operations.

And I’ll remind you that the IDF is active even now. We have forces on the ground in Lebanon and Syria. There’s intense action in Judea and Samaria, and a return to fighting in Gaza is absolutely on the agenda. So we will form a commission of inquiry, just not now.

We see and hear the bereaved families, and we understand that even when you set up a commission of inquiry, it will be toothless, its sole purpose being to cover up the political echelon’s failings.

Absolutely not. We will establish a body that has all the powers of a state commission of inquiry, but we want to ensure that it’s nonpartisan and won’t be biased toward one political side or another — one that represents all segments of the population. Because if it’s politicized, it won’t accomplish its goal.

Let’s be frank. The coalition is in a head-on confrontation with High Court President Justice Yitzchak Amit, who by law would be tasked with appointing the commission’s members. Do you think the judicial system should also come under the committee’s sights?

Yes, absolutely. The court has chosen to intervene in quite a few security issues over the years, ordering the release of terrorists’ bodies and accepting petitions by pro-Palestinian actors, just recently granting petitioners legal standing. So the political echelon, the military echelon, but also the legal echelon should all be examined. The High Court president can’t appoint the committee’s members because the High Court should also be investigated.

US-Israel Relations

The brouhaha that erupted when US Envoy for Hostage Affairs Adam Boehler was revealed to be conducting direct negotiations over captive American citizens with Hamas seems to have blown over for now, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio declaring the talks did not “bear fruit.” But the revelation deeply upset many in Israel.

Just last week, several Israeli cabinet ministers portrayed Boehler as acting on his own accord. Eli Cohen, with his diplomatic background, chooses his words carefully when speaking of Trump administration officials.

“We’re coming to the second phase in a much stronger position,” Cohen says. “That stems mainly from President Trump’s return to the White House, which gives Israel strong international backing.”

I want to ask you a question in your capacity as a member of the Security Cabinet. We’ve finished the first phase of the ceasefire deal. Israel has withdrawn its commitment to pull back from the Philadelphi Route. President Trump, not for the first time, announced after a meeting with released hostages that he was demanding the release of all the hostages, and that Hamas would pay a devastating price. On the other hand, we heard Trump envoy Adam Boehler’s proposal, after direct negotiations with Hamas behind the Israeli government’s back. The public is wondering what’s going on. Has the cooperation between the administration and the Israeli government broken down?

With the sensitivity and caution required from a cabinet member, I can say that there is close and direct coordination with the administration. Unlike in the past, even when we have disagreements, we’re speaking candidly and listening to each other. In practice, there are now three options on the agenda. One is [Steve] Witkoff’s proposal, which calls for the release of half the remaining hostages on the first day, and half on the last day.

The second option is that Hamas accepts Israel’s demands — namely, all the hostages are released, and Hamas doesn’t exist the day after, with Gaza demilitarized and under Israeli security control.

The third option is to continue the war.

You’re saying, essentially, that the only option remaining is a return to war, because there’s zero chance of Hamas accepting either of the first two options.

I wouldn’t rule out either of the first two options. After all, in the beginning, they said that we wouldn’t be able to release any of the hostages, and we proved them wrong. Of course we’ll seek to bring them all back, the living to their homes and the fallen to a Jewish burial. If Hamas doesn’t accept our demands, it will pay a heavy price.

You talk about a heavy price — apropos the reports about Boehler’s direct negotiation with Hamas, are you confident that Trump will continue the weapons shipments and back you in crushing Hamas?

I am referring to the weapons shipments that had been deliberately delayed but came to Israel after Trump entered office. So I want to make clear: We all understand today that Hamas won’t exist on the day after. As long as it takes, we won’t return to October 6. Not residents of the south, not residents of Israel, not the West, and not the United States.

It’s not only our friends in the United States and in most of the West who support us. Even the Muslim world is telling Hamas, “Go. Israel won’t allow you to stay there. They’re determined, and they don’t intend to back down.”

We certainly won’t back down.

The Draft Law

The cannons are roaring, but the political muses haven’t really fallen silent. One can’t talk to a Likud minister these days without bringing up the rifts within the coalition, with regards to the far right and the chareidim.

On the eve of the vote on the state budget, we hear UTJ minister Yitzchak Goldknopf openly defying the government, declaring that he won’t support the budget and will resign from the government unless a draft law is passed. In recent days, we see senior Agudas Yisrael figures briefing against Netanyahu. There’s a sense that the historic alliance between the Likud and the chareidim is fracturing.

We’re coalition partners — there are tensions between parties, just as there are tensions within parties. It happens. But ultimately, we have to look at the interests of the state, and the interest of the state is to pass a state budget, for the benefit of the economy, for the benefit of investors, for the benefit of our credit rating.

In addition, 2025 is a historic year for the State of Israel, with Trump in the White House — we really are creating a new Middle East. We’ve already signed three peace agreements without a Palestinian state, and that’s only the beginning of what we’ll do in this term.

Let’s return to the chareidim. Goldknopf argues: There’s no draft law, thousands of new draft orders are being sent to yeshivah students, we aren’t getting the funds we were promised. Why shouldn’t we go with the left?

Nu, really. Who on the left will he go with? Yair Lapid? Avigdor Lieberman? The Reform rabbi Gilad Kariv? Those who see religion as a burden? Those whose stated goal is to harm the Torah world and working chareidi women? With whom will he go, exactly? Unlike the left, we on the right see the chareidim as brothers, we share the same traditional values.

I’ll share something personal. As foreign minister, I made one rule for myself — to spend Shabbos with my family. Shabbos is the most important Jewish innovation, and family is the most important thing to me. The Likud is the political home of the traditional public. We’re one big family.

And in your assessment, a draft law supported by the chareidim will be supported by Likud and Religious Zionist MKs? Can such a law get 61 votes in the plenum?

In my view, yes. We in the Likud also have a real desire to solve this crisis, and there will be a majority for a draft law. We want a consensus solution. And I can tell you that I see the same desire among the chareidim, to reach a suitable, correct, and balanced solution. I’m confident that together, we’ll overcome the obstacles and reach agreements.

(Originally featured in Mishpacha, Issue 1054)