Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu called on Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben Gvir on Thursday to join forces and run together in Israel’s upcoming election, warning that divisions among right-wing parties could ultimately hand victory to the left.
Netanyahu said he plans to invite the two party leaders to meet with him in the coming days as part of an effort to broker an agreement between them.
“Smotrich and Ben Gvir have an obligation. They must unite,” Netanyahu said in a video released Thursday. “Every time we ran united, we won; when we ran divided, we lost.”
Acknowledging the personal tensions that have developed between Smotrich and Ben Gvir, Netanyahu said those differences must be put aside for the sake of the broader right-wing bloc.
“I understand that there are personal grievances between them; they need to overcome them. I will invite them in the coming days, and we will make every possible effort to unite. That is what the public expects from us — and rightly so,” Netanyahu said.
Netanyahu pointed to Israel’s 1992 election as a cautionary example of what can happen when right-wing parties fail to consolidate their votes.
“In ’92, the right, just like today, had more votes than the left. But because there were three parties that did not cross the electoral threshold, we lost to the left,” he said.
“We got the Oslo disaster, Arafat here, Hamas here, and everything else was a disaster… ongoing disasters,” Netanyahu added.
He warned that the same scenario could unfold again in the coming election if smaller parties on the right fail to cross the electoral threshold.
“And therefore, it could happen this time as well. Every time we went together, we won; every time we went separately, we lost,” Netanyahu said.
National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir responded shortly afterward with a sharp attack of his own, accusing Netanyahu of actually wanting Ben Gvir’s Otzma Yehudit party to remain relatively weak so that Netanyahu would have the option of forming a government with former IDF chief of staff Gadi Eisenkot following the election.
“Dear Prime Minister, we both know the truth. You want a small Otzma Yehudit so that you can go with Eisenkot, so that you can establish a ‘broad national government,’” Ben Gvir said.
Ben Gvir argued that a strong Otzma Yehudit, coupled with a joint ticket involving Smotrich and former senior IDF officer Ofer Winter, would provide the path toward establishing an unequivocally right-wing government.
“Only a large Otzma Yehudit, and Smotrich and Winter running together — only in this way can a fully, fully right-wing government be established,” Ben Gvir said.
