Netanyahu Slams Ben-Gvir: Stop Lying, Block Leftist Gov't

A sharp confrontation erupted Tuesday between Likud and Otzma Yehudit after National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir's party forcefully denied reports of warming relations with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Likud issued a statement declaring: "Netanyahu has already made clear many times that he will form the next government based on the existing parties of the national camp."

"Instead of your attacks on Likud, we recommend you focus on preventing the establishment of a leftist government of Eisenkot with Yair Golan, Liberman, and the Arab parties," the Likud statement read, in unusually direct language addressing Ben-Gvir personally.

Otzma Yehudit fired back within minutes: "The guilty flee when no one pursues. The method of the Prime Minister's Office, on one hand sending messages to countries around the world that Ben-Gvir will not be in the next government, running a campaign for a unity government, and boycotting joint appearances and photos with Minister Ben-Gvir, while on the other hand issuing empty declarations that Ben-Gvir will be in the next government, is a profound insult to right-wing voters."

The party added: "Unfortunately, the fact is that Netanyahu wants Eisenkot in the next government instead of Ben-Gvir, the same Eisenkot who signed a surplus-seats agreement with Yair Golan. Neither Netanyahu nor Eisenkot denies this. The time has come for Netanyahu to publicly commit that he will not sit with Gadi Eisenkot and Yair Golan."

The Likud response came after Otzma Yehudit issued a statement this morning addressing a ynet report by Moran Azoulay about a conversation between the prime minister, Ben-Gvir, and MK Tally Gotliv. "The report about a conversation in which the PM supposedly calmed concerns that Otzma Yehudit would not be brought into the next coalition is complete fake news," the party stated.

"No conversation has taken place in recent weeks between Minister Ben-Gvir and the PM, nor have such messages been sent," Otzma Yehudit clarified, adding that "unfortunately, the opposite is true."

According to Otzma Yehudit, "worrying reports are multiplying, including last weekend in Israel Hayom, that the Prime Minister's Office conveyed messages to several countries that Otzma Yehudit will not be part of the next government." The party noted this "joins Likud's campaign for a unity government, and briefings by senior PMO officials that Ben-Gvir must not be brought into the next government."

The tensions come against the backdrop of polls showing a complex picture ahead of elections. A survey published several days ago gave Netanyahu's bloc a mandate advantage over Eisenkot's bloc, but also presented scenarios in which smaller parties become kingmakers in coalition formation.

Meanwhile, Otzma Yehudit continues intensive political activity. Last night, the Gaon Rabbi Reuven Elbaz, head of Or HaChaim Yeshiva and member of the Council of Torah Sages, received Minister Ben-Gvir and Otzma Yehudit candidate Yossi Goldberger. Rabbi Elbaz spoke with them at length, thanked Ben-Gvir for his work to change conditions in prisons, and blessed them with great success.

The Democrats party has filed a petition with the Central Elections Committee demanding the disqualification of Otzma Yehudit and its eight candidates from running in the elections. The petition is based on claims of harming democracy and denying Israel's existence as a democratic state, alongside incitement to racism.