Smotrich Rules Out Coalition Partners Who Refuse to Call Hamas a Terror Group

Bezalel Smotrich said on November 5 that anyone who had been unwilling to define Hamas as a terrorist organization could not participate in any coalition. The Religious Zionism leader set out the condition in a public statement, without naming an individual or party to which it applied. Smotrich framed his position around the three years since the massacre he described as the worst suffered by the Jewish people since the Holocaust. Such a person, he said, “cannot be part of any coalition, in any form.” He closed the statement with an appeal to Jewish brotherhood and unity. The declaration followed his party’s announcement on November 4 that its delegation had recommended Benjamin Netanyahu to President Isaac Herzog as the person who should receive the mandate to form the next government. Orit Strook, Tzvika Mor and Itamar Eitam made the recommendation on the party’s behalf, according to the announcement published on Smotrich’s channel. In that earlier statement, the delegation said the election results required a broad national government led by Netanyahu. It also expressed the party’s position that nationalist Arab parties were not legitimate partners in determining Israel’s future. The November 5 statement did not identify any prospective coalition partner by name.