Likud furious at Itamar Ben Gvir: "Trying to grow at our expense"

Otzma Yehudit chairman and Minister of National Security Itamar Ben Gvir is causing anger among senior Likud and coalition party members, who claim he is damaging Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's campaign to try to appeal to undecided voters and increase the bloc.

"He knows that four to five mandates of undecided voters must be brought in — but he is exploiting this to grow at the expense of Likud," sources in Likud and the coalition bloc told Ynet and Yedioth Ahronoth.

In recent weeks, since the Prime Minister declared that he wants to establish a broad national government, Itamar Ben Gvir has been claiming at parlor meetings and conferences that Benjamin Netanyahu might go for a government with "Yashar!" chairman Gadi Eisenkot and "prefer the left." Itamar Ben Gvir even expresses concern that he will not be part of the next government — and is trying to convince the hawkish wing of Likud to follow him, thereby increasing his political power.

Itamar Ben Gvir even said in a live broadcast he held on Facebook this week that "if Bibi decides he will go with Gadi Eisenkot, it will be a mistake for all time; if he prefers the center-left over us, then everything will go backward." In that same conversation with his followers on social media, he also attacked Likud over the failure of the judicial reform: "Unfortunately, those who dealt with it did not succeed. If they had done what I did in the police, the changes in the prisons — then we would have seen things differently. Otzma Yehudit should also take on the issue of judicial reform next time."

Sources in Likud and the coalition bloc told Ynet and Yedioth Ahronoth that "Itamar Ben Gvir knows what everyone sees in the studies, that Benjamin Netanyahu needs to bring 4-5 mandates of undecided voters back to the bloc, and he is trying to do it with the message of a broad national government. Itamar Ben Gvir is exploiting this to grow at the expense of Likud, instead of understanding that they are trying to increase the bloc."

In Itamar Ben Gvir's circle, they responded to the criticism and said in a conversation with Ynet and Yedioth Ahronoth that "Benjamin Netanyahu's campaign is legitimizing Gadi Eisenkot. Everyone knows that a broad national government is Gadi Eisenkot and not Otzma Yehudit, so we are telling right-wing voters that we are against it."

Last week, the tension even became public on the X network during an exchange between Likud spokesman Guy Levy and Itamar Ben Gvir. In a video on behalf of Likud, Benjamin Netanyahu's first recruit, Oren Dubronsky, was presented. At the end of the video, the slogan "Likud — broad national government" was written. Itamar Ben Gvir, for his part, complained on the X network that "the slogan is very disturbing and reflects the Prime Minister's intention to establish a government with Gadi Eisenkot."

The Likud spokesman did not remain in debt and responded with a tweet of his own: "Let me reassure you, my friend and Minister of National Security Itamar Ben Gvir is not really worried. He knows that the meaning of this slogan is a government based on the current coalition and will be open to accepting other Zionist, and not crazy, parties. He knows there is no chance we will replace a boycott with a boycott. But Itamar is in a campaign and that's okay, we understand."