Netanyahu Won’t Rule Out Ben Gvir for Public Security Minister

By Shmuel Smith

YERUSHALAYIM – Opposition leader Binyamin Netanyahu acknowledged on Monday that Otzma Yehudit leader Itamar Ben Gvir could be the next public security minister, though he will be competing with other candidates for the post, according to The Times of Israel.

“I don’t disqualify him” for the post of public security minister, but “there are a lot of candidates,” Netanyahu told Army Radio.

“Likud has to be the biggest party, and only then I can appoint ministers like Ben Gvir and [Bezalel] Smotrich,” Ben Gvir’s running mate in the Religious Zionism-Otzma Yehudit alliance, who has been discussed as a possibility for minister of defense.

Netanyahu has said, however, that senior portfolios such as defense, treasury and foreign affairs will go only to his Likud party members.

Ben Gvir told Army Radio on Monday that when he discussed the matter with Netanyahu  last Thursday he was supportive. “I’m not quoting word-for-word, but there was considerable enthusiasm” for the idea, said Ben Gvir. “He and his people said it would bring in votes from outside the [Netanyahu-led] bloc and bring us the 61st seat.”

Netanyahu later denied that he was “enthusiastic.”

 “Really no,” Netanyahu told Army Radio. “I heard his request. He was the one who was very enthusiastic. I’m just stating the facts,” adding that it was too soon to start handing out portfolios.

Ben Gvir announced on Sunday he intends to demand the post of public security minister, which oversees the police, if Netanyahu wins and forms the next government. The prospect has become a focal point of criticism from the center-left bloc led by interim prime minister Yair Lapid, who warn that it would open the door to extremism.

In the wide-ranging Army Radio interview, Netanyahu also reiterated his opposition to the new maritime border agreement with Lebanon.

He pledged to “neutralize” it if he is reelected. “I will behave as I did with the Oslo Accords,” which he said “were not canceled, they were neutralized.”

Prior to the signing, Netanyahu had argued that the deal was “illegal” and he would not be bound by it.

Addressing the ongoing furor over allegations that he offered a place in his coalition to the Islamist Ra’am party after the last elections, Netanyahu again denied the story.

“It’s a lie. We told them dozens of times that you won’t be in the government, you won’t be in the coalition, because you are against Zionism and you support terror,” said Netanyahu.

Last week, a recording surfaced of Smotrich, the Religious Zionism leader, calling Netanyahu a “liar,” insisting that he had indeed tried to negotiate a coalition with Ra’am, but that he, Smotrich, had come out against it at the time, making it an impossibility.