Smotrich criticizes Ben Gvir’s ‘childish behavior,’ accuses him of creating crises out of nothing

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who leads the far-right Religious Zionism party, criticizes ultranationalist National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir’s “childish behavior” in an interview with the Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper.

Asked about his relationship with Ben Gvir, whose Otzma Yehudit party ran together with Religious Zionism on a joint slate during the last elections, Smotrich says that while he appreciates him and the “good things” he has done to the Israel Prison Service, he doesn’t understand “why he has to spoil it with childish behavior.”

“All the leaks from the security discussions, all the briefings, all the knives that he stabs everyone in the back with, the lack of loyalty, humiliating the prime minister — like by bringing him to a vote in the Knesset after surgery,” he says, listing all the instances in which he finds Ben Gvir’s behavior lacking.

“Also, these artificial crises that he creates every time, as if he can’t go without a crisis,” continues Smotrich. “He has to threaten everything, vote against the budget; it’s some kind of permanent ritual.”