Netanyahu said to decide against forming war-managing forum with Ben Gvir

A war-managing forum including National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir will not be formed, Hebrew media reports, hours after officials in the far-right minister’s party said progress was made in talks to establish the body.

A coalition official tells Kan news that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu decided against the forming of such a body “so as not to cause embarrassment during the visit to Washington,” where the premier is set to address Congress later today.

The Ynet news site also reports that Shas chair Aryeh Deri has vetoed the inclusion of Ben Gvir in war-making decisions, even at the risk to his party’s so-called Rabbis Bill, which Ben Gvir says he is holding up until Netanyahu allows him into the high-level war-managing forum.

In response to the Ynet report, Ben Gvir posts on X, “A shame he did not veto the Oslo Accords,” a reference to Shas’s decision to abstain from voting in the Knesset on the Oslo Accords in 1993.