Likud on the attack: "Ben Gvir has decided to crown a left-wing government"
After refusing Netanyahu's call to unite with Smotrich, the ruling party published a sharp statement: "He wants a government that will establish a Palestinian state and close Channel 14"
"Drop the ego": The Likud party attacked this afternoon (Friday) sharply the chairman of Otzma Yehudit, Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, who declared earlier that he would not unite with Bezalel Smotrich and refused the invitation of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Likud stated:
"Itamar Ben Gvir's decision to burn tens of thousands of right-wing votes and not unite with Bezalel Smotrich means one thing: he has decided to crown a left-wing government led by Gadi Eisenkot, Avigdor Lieberman, Yair Golan, and the Arab parties. Or perhaps, due to personal considerations, he will prefer to burn right-wing votes and bring about the rise of a left-wing government — just as happened in 1992, when we were led directly to the Oslo disaster? Itamar, a government of Eisenkot, Lieberman, Yair Golan, and the Arab parties will eventually evict you from your home. It will establish a Palestinian state, surrender to every international dictate, weaken the IDF, close Channel 14, persecute right-wingers, and return us to the era of the 'Season'. It will destroy everything we have built with great effort. Ben Gvir, overcome your personal ego, show maturity and responsibility, and unite for the sake of the right and for the sake of the Land of Israel."
Likud's statement continues the exchange of messages between the party and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Otzma Yehudit party. Netanyahu wrote on his X account at 11:49: "I invite 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!". This message drew a response from Otzma Yehudit four minutes later.
"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, there will be no contacts, meetings, or conversations on the subject, neither directly nor indirectly.
"Otzma Yehudit calls on the Prime Minister 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 Prime Minister received in Likud for Smotrich — in order to ensure the victory of the right in the elections and the establishment of a true right-wing government."
Likud claimed they sent an official invitation to the chairman of Otzma Yehudit, while Otzma Yehudit claimed they saw the invitation via the X network.
As recalled, yesterday (Thursday) Prime Minister Netanyahu published a video in which he referred directly, for the first time, to his desire to lead to a union between the Religious Zionism party and Otzma Yehudit. Thus, in the spirit of events characteristic of an election period, after Prime Minister Netanyahu refused to be photographed with Ben Gvir at the beginning of the week at the ceremony for finding the remains of the Altalena ship, at the end of the week Ben Gvir refuses to meet with Netanyahu regarding the issue of the union with Religious Zionism.
