Amid Knesset maneuvers, Otzma Yehudit official calls on party chief Ben Gvir to resign as an MK

By Sam Sokol 1 April 2025, 2:14 pm

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Sam Sokol is a former political correspondent at The Times of Israel. He was previously a reporter for the Jerusalem Post, Jewish Telegraphic Agency and Haaretz. He is the author of "Putin’s Hybrid War and the Jews"

National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir reacts during a 40 signatures debate in the Knesset plenum, on March 26, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

A source within the far-right Otzma Yehudit party calls on chairman and National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir to resign under the so-called Norwegian Law — which allows ministers and deputy ministers from large factions to resign from the Knesset with their seats filled by members of their parties — to prevent the ouster of party MK Yitzhak Kroizer.

On Monday evening, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich announced his resignation as a cabinet minister and his resumption of his seat as a member of Knesset for his far-right Religious Zionism party. He is expected to be reappointed tomorrow.

By reclaiming his status as an MK, Smotrich would push Otzma Yehudit MK Yitzhak Kroizer out of parliament. When Amichai Eliyahu became heritage minister in 2023, Kroizer became an MK under the Norwegian Law.

In a statement, Religious Zionism said that the move came in response to Ben Gvir’s “violation of the agreements” between him, Smotrich and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party.

When Otzma Yehudit quit the coalition in January, Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu’s resignation from the cabinet forced the resignation of then-Religious Zionism MK Zvi Sukkot, who held a lower spot on the two parties’ joint electoral list in the 2022 legislative election, rather than Kroizer.

Since returning to the coalition, however, no steps have been taken to bring Sukkot back into the Knesset.

Both Sukkot and Kroizer are excellent politicians and “it is important to uphold the agreements,” the Otzma Yehudit source tells The Times of Israel.

Ben Gvir himself could resign to keep Kroizer in the Knesset, he adds, calling the lawmaker “truly excellent and an amazing man.”

Contacted by The Times of Israel, figures within the Otzma Yehudit, Religious Zionism and United Torah Judaism parties deny a Channel 12 report that Otzma Yehudit and UTJ will oppose Smotrich’s reappointment as finance minister.

According to the report, the ultra-Orthodox intend to use the vote as leverage to get the coalition to advance legislation exempting yeshiva students from military service.

“I don’t know if there is any opposition to [Smotrich’s reappointment],” a spokesman for UTJ chairman Yitzchak Goldknopf states.

“It seems to me to be complete nonsense,” Religious Zionism MK Ohad Tal tells The Times of Israel. “I don’t see a scenario where the Haredim wouldn’t support it. They have no real leverage to shake up the coalition like this and lead to elections.”

Asked if there was any truth to the Channel 12 report that her party would oppose Smotrich’s reappointment to his temporarily vacated positions, Otzma Yehudit MK Limor Son Har-Melech replies “we still haven’t decided.”