National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said that he felt personally hurt by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's alleged efforts to exclude him from the next government, during an interview with 103FM on Monday.
Despite their close partnership throughout the current government's term, Netanyahu appears to be distancing himself from Ben-Gvir ahead of the upcoming elections. The Otzma Yehudit chairman expressed disappointment over the apparent shift in their relationship.
"But I was your partner, I am your partner, I love you. Why do you have to go to all kinds of countries and tell them, 'Without Ben-Gvir'? It's personally hurtful; it's unpleasant," Ben-Gvir admitted. "But I came here for the State of Israel. I entered politics to make changes, and you also encounter disappointments."
'Some parties would be happy if I weren't in the next government'
Ben-Gvir acknowledged that he remains unpopular among certain international figures.
"It's pretty clear that my name is one that quite a few people around the world aren't particularly fond of," he acknowledged. "Everyone knows that I was the only one in the cabinet who voted against the aid trucks that all the Europeans wanted. Some parties would be happy if I weren't in the next government. I think it should be exactly the opposite."
He argued that securing a substantial number of Knesset seats would make it difficult to exclude him from the next governing coalition.
"If I get a lot of seats, they probably won't be able to keep me out," he argued. "If I'm there, the State of Israel is strong, the Right is strong, and I think Bibi is strong too."
Ben-Gvir faces pushback from ultra-Orthodox colleagues
Ben-Gvir has also faced opposition from his haredi (ultra-Orthodox) coalition partners. Former Sephardi chief rabbi Yitzhak Yosef, the spiritual leader of the Shas party, recently warned voters against supporting Otzma Yehudit.
"I don't speak about rabbis, but ultimately they know the truth," he said. "I'm not against their community, quite the opposite. I'm the only one who can enlist haredim with their consent."
Ben-Gvir also responded to criticism from former minister Chili Tropper, who said Saturday night that his breaking point while serving in the emergency wartime government came when Ben-Gvir refused to moderate his statements about imposing harsher conditions on Palestinian security prisoners. Tropper claimed that those statements had led Hamas terrorists to abuse the hostages held in Gaza.
"I respect Chili, but it pains me that he has adopted Hamas's narrative," Ben-Gvir said. "They raped, murdered, and massacred long before I was allowed to make changes in the prisons. Let's put the facts on the table: To say it's because of Ben-Gvir is to give Hamas an excuse."
"Chili and his friends thought I needed to stop, and I told them that this is the conception, this is their big mistake, it doesn't work that way," he added. "Tropper was previously a minister in the government. Did he make changes in the prisons? [B'Yachad party leader Naftali] Bennett? [Yashar party leader Gadi] Eisenkot? Even the Likud government? We're in the Middle East. It's a message, it's deterrence."
Ben-Gvir also addressed Bennett's growing social media presence, which appears to be challenging his own prominence on platforms such as TikTok, where he has built a substantial following and earned the nickname "TikTok minister."
"I hate to say it, but Bennett operates a lot of bots and a lot of imaginary users," Ben-Gvir responded. "He has a lot of money, fine. People remember who Bennett is."
Ben-Gvir then challenged Bennett to a public debate, accusing the former prime minister of deceiving voters by forming a coalition with Mansour Abbas, leader of the Ra'am party. He also criticized Bennett's record on ultra-Orthodox military enlistment.
"I'm ready to compete with him in anything. I told him, 'Come to a debate.' He knows why he's avoiding it," he said. "I remember that he joined forces with Mansour Abbas, deceived the people of Israel, and sold his soul. And now, with all his stories about those who serve, he didn't enlist a single haredi soldier, and he was prime minister for a year and a half."