Ben-Gvir threatens to quit Israeli government over response to Gaza rockets

The Otzma Yehudit Party will boycott Knesset votes until Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu implements a “fully right-wing policy” and enables its minister to influence the state’s national security policy, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said Wednesday.

“If the prime minister does not want a right-wing government, he is welcome to fire me,” he said in a press statement while in Sderot. “We will not attend votes in the Knesset until the prime minister internalizes and understands that we want a fully right-wing government, and that we are an inseparable part of the discussions and part of the implementation of the Israeli government’s security policy.”

Ben-Gvir’s remarks indicate a spiraling rift in the coalition between Otzma Yehudit and the Likud. Tension began to rise on Tuesday, when Ben-Gvir demanded to attend the prime minister’s security situation assessment after dozens of rockets were fired from Gaza, but he was not invited.

Otzma Yehudit then announced that it would not show up for Wednesday's votes in the Knesset plenum, and instead hold a special faction meeting in Sderot, following what they called a "weak response in Gaza."

In response, the Likud said in a statement: “The prime minister, defense minister, IDF and security agencies are the ones who manage the sensitive and complex security events that Israel faces. The prime minister is the one who decides who is relevant to which discussion. If this is unacceptable to Ben-Gvir, he does not need to remain in the government.”

Ben-Gvir said his party’s Knesset boycott would continue until he became an “influential” decision-maker regarding national security.

Otzma Yehduit resignation would leave a minority coalition

Otzma Yehudit has six MKs, and without it, the coalition has 58 votes, compared with the opposition’s 56. This could make it more difficult for the coalition to ensure that it has a majority in every vote, with hundreds of votes expected in the coming weeks over the national budget.

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich (Religious Zionist Party) on Wednesday urged both sides to lower the temperature.

He said it “was not a secret” that he also thinks Israel needs to respond to the rockets more aggressively, but the “biggest prize for terrorism” would be if the government would fall, and the “Left returns to power alongside terrorism supporters,” he said in a video statement.

Smotrich called on everyone to “breathe deeply” and asked Netanyahu to convene a meeting of the heads of the coalition parties so that arguments could be held behind closed doors.

“Let’s stop attacking each other and stop shooting ourselves in the foot,” he said. “Let’s show responsibility to the State of Israel, to the nation of Israel and to the public that elected us and wants this government.”

The decision to declare a full return to routine on Wednesday morning in the Gaza Strip periphery communities, after more than 100 rockets were fired from Gaza into Israel within a span of 24 hours, was met with harsh criticism by right-wing politicians throughout the day on Wednesday.

“The lax response of the IDF certainly invites the next round, which will continue and damage the lives of our children and the normal fabric of life of the residents of the [Gaza border communities] and the South, who put their trust in us,” Otzma Yehudit MK Almog Cohen said.

Cohen said he had spoken with Education Minister Yoav Kisch (Likud) regarding matriculation exams that will be held in high schools near Gaza on Wednesday. Due to the security situation, students who do not feel they are able to take the test due to recent events will be entitled to take the tests at a later date, he said.

Sderot Mayor Alon Davidi on Wednesday criticized the government’s “lax” response and called for resuming targeted killings of terrorist leaders.

“The reality is that the Israeli government adopts a policy of granting immunity to terrorists,” he said. “This is a lax policy for which we will pay a price this summer. Hamas and [Islamic] Jihad did what they wanted. They did it last week, and they will continue in the future. This is a failed policy.”

“The terrorist leaders must be eliminated,” he added. “It looks as if someone signed an agreement under the table that the IDF would not kill them.”

“There is no sense in a policy that allows immunity for terrorists,” Davidi said. “It’s a violation of the security of the State of Israel. We need to move to the initiative phase. We brag that we know how to reach Iran and Syria, and yet here, two meters from us, there is an army of terrorists that the State of Israel does not kill and lets them initiate and attack.”

Likud MK Danny Danon wrote on Twitter: “To restore deterrence, we should have got up this morning and heard how many terrorists were decisively eliminated last night. If we continue to bomb empty positions, we invite the next round. That’s not how deterrence is built.”

Religious Zionist Party MK Zvi Sukkot wrote on Twitter: “The equation with Hamas has not yet been changed. Weakness led to weakness, and when terrorism from the North and in northern Samaria doesn’t receive a heavy blow, that message is understood in all sectors. And yet, this is the only government in recent decades that has a chance to dramatically alter this terrible equation.”

Otzma Yehudit MK Yitzhak Kroizer on Wednesday said Israel should not return the body of Khader Adnan to the Palestinian Authority until Israel receives the bodies of Oron Shaul and Hadar Goldin, who were killed during Operation Protective Edge in 2014.

Adnan was an Islamic Jihad senior official in the West Bank who died in Israeli custody Tuesday morning after an 86-day hunger strike. His death sparked the rocket attacks.