Netanyahu demands from Winter, Feiglin, and Mazuz: unite or drop out of the elections

Benjamin Netanyahu has intensified pressure on small right-wing parties, calling on their leaders — Ofer Winter, Moshe Feiglin, and Avi Mazuz — to either merge with existing lists or withdraw from the elections. The prime minister warned that fragmentation of the right-wing camp could lead to a left-wing victory, as he claims happened in 1992.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu continues his campaign of pressure on small parties within the right-wing camp, demanding that their leaders merge with existing lists or withdraw from the elections. At the center of his attention are three politicians: reserve Brigadier General Ofer Winter, who presented a new party "Amkha Israel" ("Your People, Israel"), Moshe Feiglin, and Avi Mazuz. Speaking at an event in the Binyamin region, Netanyahu called them "three mushrooms after the rain" and warned that votes cast for them could be "burned" or taken away from existing right-wing parties. In a previously released video, the prime minister linked the fragmentation of the right-wing camp to the defeat in the 1992 elections, which he said led to the creation of Palestinian enclaves and thousands of casualties. However, he did not mention that the October 7 massacre occurred during his own tenure. According to a Kantar Institute poll, Winter's party crosses the electoral threshold with 4 seats, while Bezalel Smotrich's party does not enter the Knesset, and the entire right-wing bloc receives only 50 seats. Netanyahu's associates are considering the possibility of "political neutralization" of Winter, although they do not rule out that he might join Avigdor Lieberman.