Ben Gvir appears to rule out joint run with fellow far-right leader Smotrich

By Sam Sokol 25 May 2026, 4:41 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 leads a faction meeting of his Otzma Yehudit party at the Knesset in Jerusalem on May 25, 2026. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir appears to rule out a joint Knesset run with Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, telling reporters that it is important that his fellow far-right leader, with whom he partnered in the last election, run on his own.

Asked if he plans on running on a joint list with Smotrich’s Religious Zionism, Ben Gvir tells reporters ahead of his party’s weekly faction meeting that he thinks “we need to maximize the right-wing votes so that there will be a right-wing government here once again, and Otzma Yehudit has a very, very important role. Otzma Yehudit is not a sectarian party” and has supporters “from all sectors: secular, traditional, Haredi.”

“I think Bezalel needs to run in the format of a religious Zionist party. God willing, I believe and know that he can pass the electoral threshold, and Otzma Yehudit needs to bring a lot of mandates, and we can bring a lot of mandates to the right-wing bloc so that there will be a right-wing government here.”

Religious Zionism is currently polling just above or just below the electoral threshold and it is widely believed that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will again attempt to broker a joint run between Smotrich and Ben Gvir ahead of this year’s election.

Ben Gvir also dismisses Netanyahu’s criticism of his recent video showing him taunting detained activists from a Gaza flotilla, an action which led to international condemnation as well as several travel bans.

“I love the prime minister…but we sometimes have disagreements,” he says.

“I think that given the reactions from all over the world, one thing can be understood: Israel has stopped being the Middle East’s punching bag, and I am proud that the policy I lead is not the policy of giving them sandwiches and flowers,” Ben Gvir declares.

“The message is sinking in,” he says, praising Spain after its police beat returning flotilla activists upon their return. “I won’t enter Poland, I won’t enter France. I won’t enter any of the countries that said I couldn’t enter them. It’s fine, I don’t buy my wife clothes in London. Everything is okay.”