Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called Thursday on National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich to run together in the upcoming election, warning that a split on the right could cost the bloc crucial votes.

“Smotrich and Ben Gvir have an obligation. They must unite,” Netanyahu said in a video. “Every time we ran together, we won. When we ran divided, we lost.”

Netanyahu acknowledged the personal tensions between the two and said he plans to summon them in the coming days in an effort to bring about an agreement. “I understand there are personal grievances between them. They need to overcome them,” he said. “I will invite them in the coming days. We will make a supreme effort to unite, and that is what the public expects from us — and rightly so.”

The prime minister pointed to the 1992 election as a warning, saying the right had more votes than the left but lost after three right-wing parties failed to cross the electoral threshold. Netanyahu said the result led to the Oslo Accords and warned that a similar scenario could happen again if right-wing parties run separately.

“Every time we went together, we won. Every time we went separately, we lost,” Netanyahu said.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)