Netanyahu meets Ben Gvir to block opposition government
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'Israeli' Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held a meeting on Friday with extremist Otzma Yehudit (Jewish Power) leader Itamar Ben Gvir, seeking to obstruct any maneuvers by the opposition "change bloc" to form a minority government, Channel 12 reported citing an informed source.
Following the meeting, Otzma Yehudit issued an official statement confirming the talks took place.
The party said discussions focused on strategies to ensure the right-wing bloc remains in power and to thwart the emergence of any left-wing opposition cabinet relying on support from what the party described as "elements that support terrorism", a reference to Arab political parties.
The move underscores mounting anxiety across Netanyahu's camp and among his far-right partners over the possibility that opposition factions could leverage the new parliamentary arithmetic to unseat them from power.
Official results from the legislative elections showed Arab lists capturing a combined 19 Knesset seats, with the Joint List winning 11 seats and the United Arab List securing 8, marking a notable surge from the 10 seats held previously.
Meanwhile, Netanyahu's bloc secured 53 seats against 48 seats for the opposition camp.
With neither alliance reaching the 61-seat threshold required to command a parliamentary majority, the Arab parties hold pivotal leverage in the forthcoming political negotiations.
The outcome delivered significant setbacks for core right-wing factions: Netanyahu's Likud dropped from 32 to 27 seats, while the ultra-Orthodox Shas party tumbled from 11 seats to 6.
Otzma Yehudit captured 7 seats, matching the count won by the United Torah Judaism party.
