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6d ago

Yair Netanyahu Publicly Attacks Itamar Ben Gvir as Right‑Wing Merger Talks Falter

The outburst raises the risk that splintered right‑wing lists will cost the camp the 61 seats needed to form a government.

TEL AVIV, ISRAEL - AUGUST 24: Israeli Minister of National Security, Itamar Ben Gvir, speaks during a press conference at the Etzel Museum following the discovery of the Altalena ship after 78 years at bottom of the Mediterranean sea on August 24, 2026 in Tel Aviv, Israel. The wreckage of the ship Altalena has been found fully intact at a depth of 503 metres off the coast of Israel. She was a decommissioned US Navy ship purchased by the Irgun paramilitary group that arrived during Israel's War of Independence carrying 930 Jewish immigrants and a large cargo of weapons. A dispute erupted when Irgun leader Menachem Begin demanded a portion of the arms be reserved for his units, which Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion refused, viewing it as a threat to a centralised state military. On Ben-Gurion's orders, the newly formed Israel Defense Forces shelled the ship off the Tel Aviv beach, causing an explosion that killed 16 Irgun fighters and 3 IDF soldiers before the ruined hull was later towed out and sunk. (Photo by Amir Levy/Getty Images)
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Itamar Ben Gvir and Yair Netanyahu

Overview

  • On Sunday night Yair Netanyahu said Ben Gvir cares more about personal positioning than preventing wasted right‑wing votes and accused him of politicizing the police, escalating a public dispute over a proposed technical bloc.
  • Netanyahu pressed for a technical merger of Ben Gvir, Bezalel Smotrich, Moshe Feiglin and Ofer Winter to avoid small parties falling below the 3.25% threshold and losing their votes.
  • Reporting from CNN documents that the far right has become more crowded and extreme as new lists and social‑media campaigning push leaders to compete for the same pool of voters.
  • Coverage shows no formal merger deal or substantive public response from Ben Gvir, leaving crucial coalition arithmetic unresolved as small lists continue separate campaigns.
  • Israel’s system of proportional representation requires 61 of 120 Knesset seats to govern and enforces a 3.25% entry threshold, so even modest shifts or failed lists could determine who forms the next government.