Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has confirmed that he will not grant Otzma Yehudit leader Itamar Ben-Gvir the role of either defence or national security minister if he retains power at the upcoming Knesset elections.
In an apparent snub to his far-right coalition partner, Netanyahu said that Ben-Gvir would not retain his role as national security minister, which gives him authority over policing and domestic security, and would not be appointed to head the defence department either.
Ben-Gvir has openly demanded the latter portfolio during the ongoing election campaign, which would see him handed authority over the IDF.
Such an appointment would likely be controversial, though, given his hard-line stance on the Gaza War and because he did not serve in the IDF himself, having been deemed unfit to enlist in his youth due to his public involvement in far-right movements.
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