Netanyahu’s conservative Likud party now retains the defense and foreign ministries. But the optics around Ben-Gvir and Smotrich may still prove inflammable for him – for example, if one visits or prays at Jerusalem’s Al Aqsa Mosque compound, a symbol of Palestinian nationalism. It is also the holiest site for Judaism. Ancient Temple.
Netanyahu’s last 15 years as prime minister saw him feathering the eagle’s nests in his cabinet – or clipping their feathers – as he deemed necessary. Back then, however, he had parties on his left to help him act as an ideological fulcrum.
Yohanan Plesner, president of the Israel Democracy Institute think-tank, argued, “With all parties in the incoming government to the right of Netanyahu, it will be difficult for him to repeat that role this time around.” “does he want?”
to present oneself
On Ben-Gvir and Smotrich’s calls for the annexation of the West Bank, Netanyahu is on record as being in favor as well as avoiding action on the grounds that it would risk escalating confrontation with Washington or Arab partners.
Yet Smotrich carved out a cabinet niche for himself to oversee the settlements, which most world powers consider illegal for taking occupied land that the Palestinians need for a state.
Noting the high pace of infrastructure construction, Amotz Asa-El, research fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute, said as a former transport minister, “he could be effective in increasing and strengthening Israel’s presence in the West Bank. “
In contrast, for Ben-Gvir, this is his first term in government. As police minister, he will focus on law-and-order issues that matter to a flock of Israelis, Asa-El predicted – including the crime-ridden Arabs against whom Ben-Gvir once agitated Was.
Asa-El said, “After legitimizing his position in wider Israeli circles, he will move on to areas on which not all agree – namely the West Bank.” But that may have to wait, as Ben-Gvir’s portfolio does not confer major powers in the West Bank, which is under the overall control of the military.
Arguably, Ben-Gvir, 46, and Smotrich, 42, may sidestep some of their agendas for this round with Netanyahu, 73.
“But it’s going to depend on the restraint of people who come from very different ideological world-views than we’ve seen in Israeli governments before,” said Daniel Shapiro, former US envoy to Israel and now Atlantic Council distinguished fellow.
Ben-Gvir came to the fore through the Kahn Chai group, which has been blacklisted in Israel and the United States for its anti-Arab principles. Smotrich’s advocacy of Jewish claims on the West Bank is informed by a dogmatic belief in Biblical prophecy.
