Smotrich delays return to Knesset as an MK amid right-wing maneuvers

By Sam Sokol 27 January 2025, 8:52 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"

Minister of Finance and head of the Religious Zionist party Bezalel Smotrich leads a faction meeting at the Knesset in Jerusalem, January 27, 2025. (Chaim Goldberg/ Flash90)

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich delays his return to the Knesset as an MK, a move which would push Otzma Yehudit MK Yitzhak Kroizer out of parliament under the so-called Norwegian Law.

In a letter to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Smotrich calls to postpone the move in order to buy time for what he describes as ongoing negotiations between Likud, Otzma Yehudit, and rebel Otzma Yehudit MK Almog Cohen, “in order to find a solution that will strengthen the coalition and allow MK Kroizer to remain in the Knesset without harming the coalition majority.”

“This plan requires a number of additional legal checks to be carried out,” he writes, asking for Netanyahu to give him “more time to examine the various options.”