Jerusalem, 27 August, 2026 (TPS-IL) — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday called on National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich to unite ahead of the next election.
“They have to unite,” Netanyahu said in an official video. “Every time we are united, we win. When we are divided, we lose.”
Netanyahu pointed to the 1992 election, when he said the right won more votes than the left but lost because three right-wing parties failed to cross the electoral threshold.
“We got the Oslo disaster, Arafat here, Hamas here, and everything else has been an ongoing disaster,” Netanyahu said, warning that the same could happen again.
He acknowledged that Ben Gvir and Smotrich have “personal baggage” between them but said they “need to overcome it.”
Netanyahu said he plans to invite the two leaders for talks in the coming days.
“We will make every effort to unite. This is what the public expects from them, and rightly so.”