Smotrich Offers Ofer Winter Ministerial Post to Withdraw

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich announced that he will offer Amcha Yisrael chairman Ofer Winter a ministerial post from the Religious Zionism party's quota if Winter steps aside. The offer is meant to clear Winter out of the race for the 26th Knesset.

At issue is the electoral threshold. If Amcha Yisrael fails to cross it, the votes cast for the party will not translate into Knesset seats. Arutz Sheva reported that this loss of votes could swing the election.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has also publicly called on Winter to quit. His appeal came six days before election day.

"Ofer Winter, listen to the bereaved families, show responsibility and withdraw, for the sake of right-wing victory!" Netanyahu declared.

Netanyahu was referring to an open letter published earlier in the day by dozens of families who lost loved ones in the recent war. The families urged Winter to drop his candidacy and warned that running alone would waste votes and damage the pro-Netanyahu bloc's chances of forming the next government.

Winter told Channel 12 on Wednesday that he has second thoughts about an early campaign decision: his declaration that he would recommend only Netanyahu for prime minister.

"Sometimes I consider whether it's correct or not, but it's not relevant. I am a man of truth and part of the nationalist camp. Even if they slander us, I'm not going to say now that I'll go to the other side. It may not have been correct to say at the beginning," Winter stated.

Calls on the right for Winter to withdraw intensified after Blue and White chairman Benny Gantz quit the race. According to Yeshiva World News, Netanyahu and Smotrich met on Tuesday in Eli, in the Binyamin region, with Rav Eli Sadan shlita, founder of the Bnei David pre-military academy and Winter's rabbi. The two leaders were reportedly seeking his help in convincing his former student to step aside.

On Monday, Smotrich publicly appealed to Winter and the leaders of other small parties to leave the race.

"The left is now organized, with zero wasted votes. Unfortunately, on the right, the situation is now completely the opposite. Ofer Winter, along with several other splinter parties that have absolutely no chance of crossing the electoral threshold, are gambling with the future of the State of Israel," Smotrich warned at the time.