Netanyahu's plea comes amid the balkanization of Israel's right, which has seen the inclusion of several parties that won't meet the electoral threshold.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is pleading with his far-right allies to group together to "save the right-wing bloc" as the right-wing camp in Israel balkanises following the introduction of smaller right-wing parties in the upcoming elections.
Netanyahu made the plea on X on Friday, inviting his far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and finance minister Bezalel Smotrich to a meeting this Sunday.
"No vote can go to waste; the parties must unite in order to save the right-wing bloc!" he was quoted as saying by the Times of Israel.
It's Netanyahu's second plea in 24 hours, having previously issued a statement on Thursday, calling on the two to join together and overcome their "personal grievances".
He also warned that, if the two parties don't come together, Israel could see a repeat of the 1992 election that saw the entrance of Labor and Yitzhak Rabin, which led to the signing of the Oslo Accords.
"In 1992, the right, like today, had more votes than the left, but because there were three parties, we didn't cross the electoral threshold, we lost to the left, we got the Oslo disaster, Arafat here, Hamas here, and everything that followed was disaster after disaster," he said.
Netanyahu's pleas come amid a balkanization of the right-wing, pro-Netanyahu camp in Israel's election, with several small parties running that are set to draw away votes from the coalition parties, without getting past the 3.25% electoral threshold for Knesset seats.
In particular, the launch of the new People of Israel party led by former army commander Ofer Winter has made a significant impact in the polls, several of which show the party drawing voters away from both Netanyahu's Likud party and Smotrich's Religious Zionist Party, to the extent that the later loses all its seats in the Knesset.
This is despite Winter pledging to support Netanyahu, saying: "We are part of the right-wing camp. Netanyahu is the leader of the right-wing camp, and he is the only person we will recommend [for prime minister]."
Ben-Gvir has so far rebuffed Netanyahu's statements, with his party, Otzma Yehudit, reiterating the decision was "final and complete".
"Accordingly, there will be no talks or meetings, or discussions on the topic, not directly, and not indirectly."
Like Netanyahu's pleas, Ben-Gvir's rebuttal was also his second, accusing Netanyahu on Thursday of attempting to weaken his party to get into coalition with opposition front-runner Gadi Eiseknot.
He also recommended Smotrich work with Winter: "Only with a strong Otzma Yehudit, and with Smotrich and Winter running together - only that way can a fully right-wing government be formed."
Polling conducted by Otzma Yehudit shows that if it joined with Smotrich's party, 80 percent of Religious Zionist party voters would switch to Winter, according to Haaretz, potentially offering a reason for why Ben-Gvir is reluctant to join Smotrich.
The two had run on a joint list in 2022, though negotiations were frayed and required support from Netanyahu to enter together in the election. They have since split.
In response to Otzma Yehudit's latest statements, Likud told Ben-Gvir to "get over your personal ego".
"In his decision to burn tens of thousands of right-wing votes and not unite with Smotrich, Ben-Gvir decided today to coronate a left-wing government of Gadi Eisenkot, Avigdor Leiberman, Yair Golan, and the Arab parties," Netanyahu said.
They too warned of a repeat of 1992's election.
Most polling across Israel shows that Eisenkot's Yashar is set to gain the most seats in the Knesset, with the opposition also predicted to gain more seats than Netanyahu's coalition bloc.
Polling from the *Times of Israel *puts the opposition bloc at 58 seats, against Netanyahu's bloc at 51 seats. The Palestinian parties, made up of a joint list of Hadash-Ta'al-Balad and Ra'am, are at 6 and 5 seats.
While the opposition is ahead, a majority of 61 seats is needed to form a government.
It is widely believed that the inclusion of a Palestinian party is needed to get over the electoral threshold, a place that Ra'am is positioning itself for.
Follow the story
