Netanyahu Holds Post-Election Calls With Ben Gvir and Smotrich

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke with Itamar Ben Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich on October 28 as he began contacts with his political partners after the Knesset election. The calls involved the leaders of Otzma Yehudit and Religious Zionism-Zehut, while vote counting continued and the final election outcome remained unresolved. Netanyahu told leaders of the right-wing bloc, “We are together and staying together,” according to reporting on the conversations. The reported calls with Ben Gvir and Smotrich were completed, while conversations with the Haredi parties were still pending. Further contacts with those parties were expected as Netanyahu pursued the formation of a government. Earlier on October 28, United Torah Judaism said no party leaders had approached it, apart from a message from Netanyahu’s circle conveying his intention to retain the coalition parties. That message preceded the evening accounts of his telephone conversations with Ben Gvir and Smotrich; it did not amount to a reported conversation with the Haredi party leaders themselves. In his election-night address at Binyanei Ha’uma in Jerusalem, Netanyahu thanked his coalition partners and called for a strong right-wing national government. The October 28 contacts followed that stated preference. The next reported step was outreach to the Haredi parties, with the process of forming the next government still unfinished.