Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made an unusual public appeal Thursday evening directly addressing two of his coalition partners: Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir.
Speaking on camera, Netanyahu explicitly called on both ministers to set aside narrow political considerations and personal tensions between them, urging them to reach an agreement soon for their parties, Religious Zionism and Jewish Power (Otzma Yehudit), to run together in the upcoming elections. The appeal comes as polls show rising support for Ofer Winter, a right-wing candidate whose growing popularity threatens to erode, or even eliminate, Smotrich's party at the ballot box.
Netanyahu opened his remarks by addressing the future of right-wing unity directly, arguing that political and historical experience proves beyond doubt that the fate of the national camp depends on complete unity. "You asked me about Smotrich and Ben-Gvir. They must unite," Netanyahu said. "Every time we ran together, we won. When we ran separately, we lost."
To illustrate the danger of running separately, Netanyahu recalled the 1992 elections, noting that in that campaign the right-wing public held a clear majority among all voters. However, because multiple right-wing parties failed to cross the electoral threshold, the parliamentary majority was lost and a left-wing government came to power.
Netanyahu detailed the historical chain of events: "In '92, the right had, like today, more votes than the left, but because there were three parties that didn't pass the threshold, we lost to the left, we got the Oslo disaster, Arafat here, Hamas here, and all the rest... disaster, ongoing disasters."
The Prime Minister quickly connected past lessons to today's political threat landscape, warning of a real danger that the scenario could repeat itself if the two insist on running separately. "And so it can happen this time too," Netanyahu emphasized. "Every time we went together, we won, every time we went separately, we lost."
Netanyahu then openly addressed the complex relationship and tensions between Smotrich and Ben-Gvir. The Prime Minister made clear he is aware of existing grievances but demands they rise above any personal considerations for the sake of the national camp's survival. He also announced concrete steps he intends to take in the near future: "I understand there are personal issues between them, they need to overcome that. I will invite them in the coming days, we will make a supreme effort to unite, and that's what the public expects from them, and rightly so."
