Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich on Wednesday offered People of Israel party leader Ofer Winter a ministerial position in the Defense Ministry in exchange for withdrawing from the October 27 election, less than a week before Israelis head to the polls.
The statement came as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Smotrich have both been pressuring Winter to withdraw from the election race, though the People of Israel chairperson has asserted that he has no intention of resigning.
Smotrich, who leads the far-right Religious Zionist Party that is part of Netanayhu's outgoing coalition, also stated that he would offer Winter the "full authority to establish a voluntary emigration directorate for Gaza," on condition of withdrawing.
The finance minister additionally stated that he would offer Winter a directorate for haredi (ultra-Orthodox) enlistment and integration into the workforce.
Winter's People of Israel party has endorsed Netanyahu as prime minister. His party has recently been polling below or just above the required electoral threshold. Winter had stated that he was seeking to be defense minister in the next government formed.
On Wednesday, Winter also said in a Channel 12 interview, when asked whether it was a mistake to endorse Netanyahu for prime minister so early in the campaign, that he sometimes considers “whether it was right or wrong.”
However, he added: “That is irrelevant. I am a man of my word and part of the national camp."
People of Israel to continue endorsing Netanyahu for PM, Yoseph Haddad says
Yoseph Haddad, who holds the second slot on the People of Israel Knesset slate, subsequently stated that the party would continue to endorse Netanyahu as prime minister.
"We in the People of Israel party are people of our word. From the very beginning, party leader Ofer Winter said we would recommend Netanyahu for prime minister."
"That is what we will do, even as Netanyahu himself and others in the coalition walk all over us and act against us, and even after we are subjected to a campaign of smears, spin, and character assassination," Haddad added.
Netanayhu's ruling Likud subsequently released a statement in which the prime minister directly addressed Winter, calling on him to withdraw.
“Ofer Winter, you are not passing the electoral threshold in any of the polls. You promised to act responsibly and withdraw from the race if you endangered the Right," the prime minister stated.
Netanyahu called on Winter to withdraw now to "save the Right," reiterating his earlier remarks that doing so would "prevent a dangerous left-wing government," led by the oppostion bloc seeking to replace the premier.
The People of Israel party has sought to bring together people who were never in the Knesset or part of the political or security failures surrounding the October 7 Hamas massacre in 2023.
The prime minister has also repeatedly called on voters not to support the small parties on the Right, warning that splitting the right-wing vote could cost his camp the election.