Netanyahu Confirms Likud Offer to Winter; Winter Rejects His Warning

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he met Ofer Winter several weeks ago and offered to welcome him into Likud or see him pursue an independent campaign. Netanyahu warned that a separate run could waste right-wing votes or push another party below the electoral threshold, and said Winter’s pledge to recommend him included an escape hatch. Winter replied that his People of Israel party does not endanger the right, citing the government’s Gaza policies, Haredi military integration and treatment of those who serve. He said political change requires people uninvolved in the October 7 failures.