Ben Gvir Accuses Netanyahu of Pledging to Exclude Him From Next Government | Israel Politics Post
Ben Gvir Accuses Netanyahu of Pledging to Exclude Him From Next Government
The national security minister says Netanyahu privately promised European officials that Otzma Yehudit would be left out of any future coalition, an accusation Likud has pushed back on just over a week before the vote.
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By Israel Politics Post Staff·Published
National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir attends a press conference ahead of the election · Source: Chaim Goldberg/Flash90, via The Times of Israel
National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday of telling European officials that his far-right Otzma Yehudit party would be excluded from any coalition formed after the October 27 election, The Times of Israel reported. At a Jerusalem press conference, Ben Gvir said flatly that "the Prime Minister's Office has committed to countries in the European Union...that Ben Gvir and Otzma Yehudit will not be in the next government."
Ben Gvir said associates within Likud told him the pledges were driven by Netanyahu's desire to "finish the term in consensus." Likud, for its part, pushed back on the characterization, saying only that Netanyahu "has made clear that any government will include the current coalition's base of partners," stopping short of directly denying Ben Gvir's account.
The dispute follows an earlier Netanyahu statement that Ben Gvir would not keep the National Security Ministry, nor be handed the defense portfolio, in a future government, a sign of friction between the two men even as their parties remain formally aligned. The rift comes alongside a separate controversy after former Sephardi chief rabbi Yitzhak Yosef issued a letter barring support for Otzma Yehudit, citing Ben Gvir's repeated visits to the Temple Mount, which rabbinical tradition forbids.
Netanyahu is separately said to be pressing the newly formed Charedi Public party to withdraw from the race altogether, worried it could fall short of the 3.25 percent electoral threshold and waste votes that might otherwise go to pro-Netanyahu lists. Meanwhile, the Ra'am party has accused right-wing operatives of circulating fake campaign billboards depicting its chairman, Mansour Abbas, alongside Israeli and Pride flags in an apparent effort to damage the party's standing with its own base.
