Ben Gvir Says Arab Turnout Because of Him Would Be His Greatest Honor

National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir said in a post Sunday evening, November 8, that he would regard Arab voters turning out because of him as an honor. He published the statement on his own X account at 22:01 Israel time. “If Arabs went out to vote because of me, that is the greatest badge of honor I could receive,” Ben Gvir wrote. The statement follows his October 29 demand that people he considers disloyal to Israel should not have voting rights. In that earlier post, Ben Gvir presented loyalty to the state as a condition he wanted attached to participation in elections. On November 1, Ben Gvir thanked his supporters while acknowledging that he had expected a stronger election result. He said Otzma Yehudit had contested the election on its own and increased its representation from six seats to seven. He also pledged to continue working for his supporters whether his party served in the coalition or in the opposition. The election for the 26th Knesset was held on October 27. An official election notice from Israel’s embassy in Latvia listed the voter-register requirements: Israeli citizenship when the register was extracted, registration of the voter and address as a resident in the Population Registry, and reaching the age of 18 by election day.