In what may be his most mature political (and personal) move to date, Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir publicly apologized to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and MK Boaz Bismuth, following Shabbat.
Last week, Ben-Gvir’s party, with the exception of MK Almog Cohen, voted against the coalition in a protest move. This nearly led to the failure of a critical coalition bill, the Retained Earnings Law. To avert this outcome, Prime Minister Netanyahu had to leave the hospital—where he was recovering from major surgery—to cast his vote. Similarly, MK Boaz Bismuth, who was sitting Shiva for his late mother, was compelled to attend the Knesset session. The Retained Earnings Law is expected to bring about 10 billion shekels ($2.75 billion) into the state coffers in 2025 to help cut the state budget deficit.
The optics of seeing the two distressed politicians forced to show up to the vote upset many Israelis, including Ben-Gvir’s own supporters. This dissatisfaction was reflected in a Channel 14 poll, which showed his party losing seats as a result of the episode.
Ben-Gvir has officially framed his protest as opposition to budget cuts affecting the police in the proposed 2025 budget. However, this issue represents only the surface of a deeper conflict.
Attorney General Gali Baharav Miara has been pointing her big guns at Ben-Gvir, allegedly aiming to build a case that could force him to resign from his ministerial role, potentially a key step to dissolving the current coalition government. As part of this campaign, senior police and prison officials have come under investigation. Ben-Gvir, in turn, has been pushing the coalition to dismiss the Attorney General, accusing her of weaponizing investigations to politically target key figures in his sphere of influence.
While most within the coalition agree on the need to remove the current Attorney General, approaches differ. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, for example, advocates a slower, more methodical approach designed to withstand potential challenges from the activist High Court. However, Ben-Gvir views such delays as potentially disastrous, arguing that they might allow the Attorney General to succeed in undermining him and his agenda to reform the police, before his clock runs out.
Through his protest, Ben-Gvir sought to send a clear message to Netanyahu and the coalition: if the Attorney General’s actions are not curtailed, the coalition’s longevity and effectiveness are at risk. However, the backlash from the public—due to the personal toll on Netanyahu and Bismuth—led Ben-Gvir to reconsider his tactics.
On Saturday night, Ben-Gvir announced that he had engaged in “soul-searching” over Shabbat and admitted his mistake. His apology addressed the decision to compel Netanyahu and Bismuth to attend the vote despite their personal hardships.
“We will continue to vote according to our principles until a solution is found to prevent the closure of police stations, emergency squads, and the cuts to the salaries of police officers, prison guards, and all of Israel’s national security forces,” Ben-Gvir stated. “At the same time, I did some soul-searching on Shabbat and realized that I was wrong when I saw the Prime Minister and Boaz in the plenary and we did not offset them [for the vote]. I apologize to the Prime Minister and my friend Boaz Bismuth. From now on, we will offset the Prime Minister until he fully recovers, with God’s help.”
This mea culpa highlights a rare moment of public introspection for Ben-Gvir, suggesting either a potential shift in his political strategy, or at least a mature recognition that he went too far. Either way, it was the right thing to do.
