Despite calls for wide coalition, Netanyahu reassures Ben-Gvir he will stay in govern

Despite calls for a wider coalition after the election, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has moved to reassure National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir that, if he forms the next government, it will be based on the current coalition and its governing principles. The reassurance came as Ben-Gvir, leader of the far-right Otzma Yehudit party, intensifies a campaign aimed at right-wing voters, warning that Netanyahu could leave his party outside the next government and instead bring in one of the parties from the opposition. Ben-Gvir and MK Tally Gotliv, who recently left Likud for a senior position in Otzma Yehudit, have been touring the country and repeating the message that voters must strengthen Ben-Gvir to ensure Netanyahu cannot form a government without him. Behind the campaign is an effort to increase Otzma Yehudit’s number of Knesset seats at Likud’s expense, particularly among voters who could move between the two parties.