Ben Gvir: PM promised European officials that I won’t be part of next government

National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir claims Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has promised European officials that he will shut Ben Gvir’s far-right party out of his coalition if he wins reelection next week.

Ben Gvir says he has “received information about messages” from Netanyahu’s office making such a pledge. Ben Gvir’s Otzma Yehudit party is a partner in Netanyahu’s outgoing coalition.

“The Prime Minister’s Office has committed to countries in the European Union — whether to foreign ministers or a higher rank — that Ben Gvir and Otzma Yehudit will not be in the next government,” Ben Gvir says at a press conference in Jerusalem.

“I was in shock. I didn’t understand where it came from,” Ben Gvir says.

He adds that people in Netanyahu’s ruling Likud party told him that the premier, a historian’s son, is driven by historic sensitivities that make him want “to finish the term in consensus” — indicating that he could reach out to opposition parties to form a government.

“Mr. Prime Minister — don’t the waste the effort. Don’t count on the left in Israel,” Ben Gvir says.

“If you lead a genuine right-wing policy, then history will remember you positively,” he says, adding that US President Donald Trump’s fresh endorsement of Netanyahu gives the premier the legitimacy to form a right-wing government.

Likud responds in a statement that “Ben Gvir is continuing with the false political spin,” and that Netanyahu “has made clear that any government will include the current coalition’s base of partners, and that every Zionist party will be invited to join based on our guidelines.”