Smotrich chides Ben Gvir for threats to bring down government: A prize for terror

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich chides far-right coalition partner party Otzma Yehudit and its leader National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir for boycotting Knesset and government activity, saying that it would be a “prize for terrorism” if their hard-right government were to topple.

“The way to bring about change is not by threatening to topple the government and boycotting government and coalition votes in the Knesset,” Smotrich says at the outset of his Religious Zionism party’s Monday Knesset faction meeting.

“The biggest prize for terrorism is the overthrow of the right-wing government and the left’s rise to power, alongside terror supporters,” says Smotrich, who ran on a joint list with Ben Gvir in the last election.

Coalition parties routinely call majority-Arab parties “terror supporters.”

Ben Gvir’s Otzma Yehudit has frozen its participation in coalition work since \Wednesday in response to what it says is the government’s “feeble” response to rocket barrages from the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip.

Without making a clear call, Smotrich, who also serves as an independent second minister in the Defense Ministry, says that “we must not accept” the rockets raining down on Israel’s southern communities.

Taking a different tack from firebrand Ben Gvir, Smotrich stresses the need for coalition unity, as television network polling points to declining support for the alliance.

“I say to all of my coalition colleagues: this is the moment for unity and for coalition discipline. All of us are obligated by government decisions and we won’t accept discipline violations,” Smotrich says, a day after Ben Gvir skipped Sunday’s weekly cabinet meeting.

“I once again call on my colleague minister Itamar Ben Gvir and the prime minister to sit down and talk and get government and coalition work back on track,” Smotrich adds.