Despite calls for a wider coalition after the election, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has moved to reassure National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir that, if he forms the next government, it will be based on the current coalition and its governing principles.
The reassurance came as Ben-Gvir, leader of the far-right Otzma Yehudit party, intensifies a campaign aimed at right-wing voters, warning that Netanyahu could leave his party outside the next government and instead bring in one of the parties from the opposition.
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Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir
(Photo: Alex Kolomoisky)
Ben-Gvir and MK Tally Gotliv, who recently left Likud for a senior position in Otzma Yehudit, have been touring the country and repeating the message that voters must strengthen Ben-Gvir to ensure Netanyahu cannot form a government without him.
Behind the campaign is an effort to increase Otzma Yehudit’s number of Knesset seats at Likud’s expense, particularly among voters who could move between the two parties.
Yedioth Ahronoth and ynet learned that Ben-Gvir received several reassuring messages from Likud in recent days, including promises that there was no intention to replace him with one of the change-bloc parties. He was also asked to stop the campaign.
Ben-Gvir continued nonetheless.
Netanyahu then decided not to rely solely on indirect messages and held a conversation with Ben-Gvir aimed at calming his concerns. During the call, the prime minister said that if he forms the next government, it would be established on the basis of the current government and its governing principles.
Netanyahu has also made similar remarks in several videos published recently, in an effort to reassure Ben-Gvir and blunt a campaign that Likud fears could gain momentum.
Last week, Netanyahu also met Gotliv in an effort to minimize the political damage. Although she has already left Likud, the prime minister sought to “clear the air” with her and raised Ben-Gvir’s campaign during their meeting.
“At the meeting with the prime minister, he tried to convince me that Itamar is wrong and that he will not sit with Eisenkot,” Gotliv wrote immediately afterward.
“I told him Ben-Gvir is right and that the prime minister has always preferred to rely on parties from the left and center,” she said. “The prime minister pushed me down to No. 20 so that I would not prevent a government with Eisenkot instead of Ben-Gvir. Fortunately, the people decide. You on the right should vote Otzma Yehudit, which will keep Netanyahu on the right.”
Tally Gotliv
(Photo: Shalev Shalom)
Ben-Gvir himself remains skeptical. He believes that if this is Netanyahu’s final term, the prime minister could seek to build a different coalition without him.
Behind the scenes, the two are also competing directly for voters who are undecided between Likud and the far-right Otzma Yehudit. Ben-Gvir is focusing on constituencies where the parties overlap, including Mizrahi voters, younger Israelis, residents of peripheral areas and hard-line right-wing voters.
Likud officials are increasingly concerned not only about Ben-Gvir’s independent campaign but also about the possibility that Otzma Yehudit could significantly outperform expectations and emerge as one of the election’s major surprises.
“Ben-Gvir alone, without Smotrich, with a large number of seats, would be a major event for the right,” a senior Likud official said.
“It would raise many questions about where the Israeli right is heading, and more than that, it would allow him to demand senior and important portfolios for himself and Gotliv, something Netanyahu does not want.”