Otzma Yehudit chairman and National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir on Friday criticized efforts by the Likud party to attract voters away from his party, claiming that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wants to establish a broad coalition with Gadi Eisenkot in which Ben Gvir would have limited influence.
In a Facebook post published before the start of Shabbat, Ben Gvir urged his supporters to reject what he described as Likud's campaign to draw votes away from smaller right-wing parties. He warned that a weakened Otzma Yehudit might leave him outside the next government.
"I need your help to ensure that Ben Gvir is part of the next government," he wrote.
According to Ben Gvir, Netanyahu has already made clear that he does not intend to keep him as National Security Minister or appoint him Defense Minister, while expressing interest in forming a broad coalition with Eisenkot.
"You heard the Prime Minister announce that he would remove me from the National Security Ministry, that he would not give me the Defense Ministry, or the Justice Ministry to Tally Gotliv, while at the same time saying that he wants a broad government with Eisenkot," Ben Gvir claimed.
He framed the dispute as a choice over the composition of the next government.
"This is your choice: A strong Ben Gvir in the government, or a strong Eisenkot in the government."
Much of the post focused on rejecting the argument that right-wing voters should consolidate their support behind Likud to ensure that it remains the largest party. Ben Gvir maintained that the decisive factor in determining who forms the government is the number of Knesset members who recommend a candidate to the President.
"I keep hearing the 'vote-draining campaign' about the supposed need for 'the largest party.' Apart from the fact that it is simply incorrect, because what matters to the President is solely the number of recommendations within the bloc," he wrote.
To support his argument, Ben Gvir cited a Channel 14 poll conducted by Shlomo Filber, which he said gave Likud 30 seats and Eisenkot's party 20.
"That is an enormous, insurmountable gap of 10 seats in Likud's favor," he argued. The figures were presented by Ben Gvir as polling results, not election results.
Ben Gvir emphasized that voting for Otzma Yehudit does not contradict support for Netanyahu as Prime Minister.
"You know that every vote for Itamar Ben Gvir is automatically a vote for Bibi as Prime Minister," he wrote.
Nevertheless, he warned that a decline in his party's electoral strength would undermine his ability to influence government policy.
"If I am weak, I may not be in the next government, and certainly not in a position where I can influence the people of Israel," he added.
Earlier in the post, Ben Gvir reviewed his record over the past four years, presenting it as evidence of what he described as a fundamental change in the right wing's approach to governing.
He highlighted his demand to dismiss the Attorney General during the government's first month in office, changes he introduced in the prison system, demolitions of illegal construction in the Negev, and the expansion of civilian firearms licensing.
According to Ben Gvir, 10,000 illegally constructed homes have been demolished in the Negev over the past year and a half, while 300,000 firearms have been distributed to Israeli civilians during his tenure. These figures were presented in his post and have not been independently verified.
"Over the past four years, I fundamentally changed the right wing's outlook. Instead of trying to please others and compromise, I came from the very first moment to carry out what we promised. Without fear and without apologizing!" he wrote.
Ben Gvir argued that his approach had replaced what he characterized as an apologetic attitude with a more assertive political outlook.
"I changed the apologetic outlook of the right wing into an offensive approach, one that is not afraid to stand up for what is ours."
He concluded with a direct appeal to voters ahead of the elections: "If you want a strong Ben Gvir in the government, give me the power."
(Arutz Sheva-Israel National News' North American desk is keeping you updated until the start of Shabbat in New York. The time posted automatically on all Israel National News articles, however, is Israeli time.)