Ben Gvir accuses Smotrich of ‘providing attorney general with a lifeline’

National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir continues his attacks on Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and releases a video statement, calling on his former electoral ally to “stop providing the attorney general with a lifeline.”

“I expect Minister Smotrich to lift the veto, to allow the proposal to dismiss the attorney general to be raised as early as this coming Sunday,” he declares, adding that “a right-wing government is measured by actions, not words.”

Ben Gvir’s statement comes around half an hour after his far-right Otzma Yehudit party released a similar statement calling for Smotrich to “remove the veto he cast” on the matter.

It is unclear if Smotrich is one of four ministers reported to have declined to attend yesterday’s meeting on firing Baharav-Miara, forcing its cancellation. Smotrich has spoken out against taking any significant steps relating to the judicial overhaul at this time and Ben Gvir blames him for the lack of progress in this area.

Since Monday afternoon, Ben Gvir has repeatedly accused Smotrich of preventing the revival of the government’s judicial overhaul and Baharav-Miara’s ouster. Speaking with the press ahead of his Religious Zionism party’s faction meeting on Monday, Smotrich said that any significant moves relating to the judiciary ought to remain on hold until after the war.

Ben Gvir voted against the state budget yesterday evening following the last-minute cancellation of a meeting where Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s senior coalition allies would have discussed firing Attorney General Baharav-Miara.

Earlier on Tuesday, MK Ohad Tal, a member of Smotrich’s Religious Zionism party, panned Ben Gvir as “the coalition’s manchild,” whose “intense need for dopamine and attention outweighs any public interest.”