Trump Reportedly Wants Ben-Gvir and Smotrich Left Out of Israel's Next Government
American sources told Walla that the US president sees settler violence as a threat to his regional vision, as preliminary election results leave Israel's coalition picture unresolved.
By Lorenzo Marshall ·
US President Donald Trump wants Israel's next government to exclude far-right ministers Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, according to American sources who spoke to the Israeli outlet Walla on Wednesday. The sources said Trump believes settler violence is undermining his regional vision and making it harder to carry out.
Trump's associates have been briefed on the results of Israel's election, but the president has not yet commented on them himself.
The reported position comes as preliminary results show a political deadlock. The Central Elections Committee announced on Wednesday morning, after more than four million votes had been counted, that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's bloc is expected to enter the Knesset with 54 seats. Netanyahu's Likud is projected to win 27 seats. United Torah Judaism, Shas and Otzma Yehudit are each expected to take seven, while the Religious Zionist Party is expected to win six.
The opposition bloc, made up of Yashar, B'Yachad, Yisrael Beytenu and the Democrats, is expected to win 49 seats, according to the committee's data. Neither side reaches the 61 seats needed for a majority in the Knesset, so the question of who can form a government remains open. Exit polls also suggested that Arab parties could play a significant role in determining whether a coalition is possible.
Ben-Gvir's Otzma Yehudit and the alliance of Smotrich's Religious Zionist Party and Zehut were projected to win about 13 seats combined. That would make them potentially important partners in any future coalition led by Netanyahu. The projections are preliminary, and the final distribution of seats will depend on the official count.
Two parties fell short in the exit polls: the Reservists' Party and People of Israel failed to cross the electoral threshold. Celebrations broke out at Likud headquarters after the results were published. Amcha Yisrael chairman Ofer Winter, whose party also missed the threshold in the exit polls, criticized Netanyahu. Sources close to Winter claimed the prime minister had "drained our votes" and called it a "strategic mistake."
Separately, Trump spoke on Wednesday about the war with Iran, saying it could end whenever he decides. "It will end very quickly, but we have to make sure it ends the right way," he said.
According to Trump, ending the war requires "an absolute and unequivocal declaration that they will never have nuclear weapons." He also described Iran as "the number one state sponsor of terrorism in the world."
Source: The Jerusalem Post
