The former Israeli Prime Minister and leader of Likud, Benjamin Netanyahu, met this Monday in Tel Aviv with the far-right Itamar Ben Gvir in an attempt to gather support to form a right-wing coalition after the refusal of Yisrael Beitenu. After the meeting Ben Gvir assured that they are «on the right track» to form a government.
Ben Gvir, who presides Otzma Yehudit (Jewish Power) and contested in the last elections together with Religious Zionism, a party led by Bezalel Smotrich and which won 14 seats, has made it a condition for entering Netanyahu’s future new government to hold the Public Security portfolio, according to the newspaper ‘The Times of Israel’.
After the meeting, Ben Gvir highlighted the «good atmosphere» of the meeting. «We are on the right track for the establishment of a totally, totally right-wing government,» he said, according to ‘The Times of Israel’.
The new executive «will protect the soldiers of the army, will look into the eyes of the people who are afraid to walk in the Negev and Galilee and will give them back a sense of security, of control. We have a lot of work to do,» he stressed.
Ben Gvir stated during the election campaign that he would call for the Ministry of Public Security, which would fit in with these statements, but it is a portfolio that could generate conflict.
This meeting between Netanyahu and Ben Gvir comes after Netanyahu, who won 32 seats in the elections, has avoided being photographed with the ultra-right-winger throughout the election campaign, and even had several clashes with Ben Gvir.
Among them, an event held in the village Kfar Chabad stands out, where Netanyahu refused to go to the stage due to the presence of the ultra-right-winger and remained in his car while the organizers tried to convince the leader of Otzma Yehudit to leave the place, according to the newspaper ‘Haaretz’.
Netanyahu met separately yesterday with Religious Zionism leader Bezalel Smotrich in Jerusalem, in an attempt to form a three-way alliance following the refusal of Israel’s Finance Minister and leader of the far-right Yisrael Beitenu, Avigdor Lieberman.
Lieberman, who was an ally of Netanyahu early in his career, has distanced himself from him in recent years and refused to join forces with him and other ultra-Orthodox parties, which in 2018 opposed his draft law on conscription of members of this community.
The right-wing bloc akin to Netanyahu won an absolute majority in the Knesset, the Israeli parliament, after the legislative elections, according to the official count, with Likud and its partners holding some 65 of the 120 seats in the House. The Electoral Commission reported that the far-right Religious Zionism won 14 seats in coalition with Otzma Yehudit, an unprecedented milestone in the history of the extreme right in Israel.
