Senior coalition officials strongly criticized National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir after his Otzma Yehudit party again boycotted votes in the Knesset and warned that he could be responsible for the collapse of the current right-wing coalition and the rise of a left-wing government.
“Itamar Ben-Gvir cares more about media coverage than maintaining the right-wing government and the integrity of the coalition,” the unnamed officials told Hebrew media outlets. "In the government, problems are solved together, and unlike his spins, he is not the only one who cares about the Negev and the Galilee. Maybe it's really better that they overthrow the government, we go to elections, and the public kicks out the one who brought down the right-wing government. The rise of a left-wing government will be on his head.''
The Otzma Yehudit party said in response that "only yesterday we heard the testimony of [National Unity party] MK Hili Tropper about the proposals they received to enter the coalition instead of Otzma Yehudit. We came to the Knesset to strengthen the residents of the Negev and the Galilee and if Smotrich wants to solve the crisis - let him transfer coalition funds to the Negev and the Galilee. It is thanks to the residents there that both he and we were elected."
The opposition scored a victory today when a bill proposed by MK Yorai Lahav-Hertzano to protect the coastal environment received the support of the coalition in light of the Otzma Yehudit MK's absence from the vote. The MKs had left an earlier vote in the Knesset plenum on a bill on eligibility for the diagnosis of learning disabilities for children due to a conflict with Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich.
According to them, the Finance Minister is not delivering what was promised to the Negev and Galilee Ministry in the coalition agreements. In response, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held an urgent meeting with Otzma Yehudit MKs, in which he said a solution would be found. The party stated: "The residents of the Negev and the Galilee and the periphery are just as important as coalition discipline."
Minister for the Development of the Periphery, the Negev and the Galilee Yitzhak Wasserlauf said the Smotrich, who visited the Galilee today: "Bezalel, don't give empty slogans. If the Galilee is important to you, don't cut the budgets for the promotion of the Negev and the Galilee."