Ben Gvir rejected Netanyahu's invitation: "We will not unite with Smotrich"
Netanyahu returned to yesterday's call and announced that he would invite both party leaders to meet with him on Sunday: "We must unite." Ben Gvir responded quickly with a firm statement: "The parties will not run together, this is a final decision." In Otzma Yehudit, they claim they learned about the invitation through the social network.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called today, Friday, on ministers Itamar Ben Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich for a meeting for the purpose of running together. However, Ben Gvir's refusal came within just four minutes.
In a post on his X account at 11:49, Netanyahu wrote:
"I am inviting Minister Itamar Ben Gvir and Minister Bezalel Smotrich to meetings on Sunday. We must not waste a single vote, we must unite to save the right-wing bloc!"
At 11:53, a statement was issued on behalf of Otzma Yehudit:
"The Otzma Yehudit party and the Religious Zionism party will not run together in the upcoming Knesset elections. This decision is final and absolute and will not change under any circumstances. Accordingly, no contacts, meetings, or conversations on the subject will take place, neither directly nor indirectly."
"Otzma Yehudit calls on the PM to promote the two correct and realistic alternatives on the agenda - either the unification of all the fragments of the small parties, or the use of the reserved spots the PM received in the Likud for Smotrich - in order to ensure the victory of the right in the elections and the establishment of a true right-wing government."
In the Likud, they claimed they sent an official invitation to the chairman of Otzma Yehudit, while in the Otzma Yehudit party they claim they saw the invitation through the X network.
As recalled, yesterday, Thursday, PM Netanyahu published a video in which he referred directly, for the first time, to his desire to lead to a unification between the Religious Zionism party and Otzma Yehudit.
Thus, in the spirit of events characteristic of an election period, after at the beginning of the week Prime Minister Netanyahu refused to be photographed with Ben Gvir at the ceremony of finding the remains of the Altalena ship, and at the end of the week Ben Gvir refuses to meet with Netanyahu regarding the issue of unification with Religious Zionism.
