Fearing a loss of Likud voters to Otzma Yehudit, the Prime Minister held clarification talks with Itamar Ben Gvir and MK Tally Gotliv.

 

Secret messages have been exchanged in recent days between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Otzma Yehudit chairman and National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, as well as the party's No. 2, MK Tally Gotliv, ynet reported.

The exchanges come against the backdrop of an extensive campaign being waged by Ben Gvir among right-wing voters, in which he claims that Netanyahu intends to form the next government without him.

Otzma Yehudit's campaign is aimed at drawing votes from Likud's electoral base. Initially, Likud sent reassuring messages to Ben Gvir, urging him to stop the attacks.

When the campaign continued, Netanyahu held a direct conversation with Ben Gvir and made clear that if he forms the next government, it will be based on the current coalition's composition and its guiding principles.

As part of the effort to ease tensions, Netanyahu also met with MK Gotliv in an attempt to outline a framework for understandings. However, Gotliv made clear that she was not persuaded by his explanations. “At the meeting with the Prime Minister, he tried to convince me that Itamar was wrong and that he would not sit with Eisenkot," Gotliv wrote immediately after the meeting. “I told him that Ben Gvir was right, and that the Prime Minister has always preferred to rely on left-wing and centrist parties. The Prime Minister pushed me down to 20th place so that I would not prevent a government with Eisenkot instead of Ben Gvir. Fortunately, the people decide. You, the right-wing voters, should vote for Otzma Yehudit, which will keep Netanyahu on the right."

Meanwhile, Likud's leadership is closely monitoring the independence Otzma Yehudit is demonstrating and the possibility that Ben Gvir's party could finish the election with a significant number of seats.

Ben Gvir's party denied the report. “This is completely fake news. There has been no conversation between Minister Ben Gvir and the Prime Minister in recent weeks, nor were any such messages sent. The opposite is true. There are growing reports of concern, including over the past weekend, that the Prime Minister's Office conveyed messages to several countries around the world that Otzma Yehudit will not be part of the next government."