Netanyahu's new partner — and who is left out
Likud and Religious Zionism are deepening their cooperation ahead of the 2026 elections: a joint field headquarters, hundreds of activists, voter mapping and a surplus-votes agreement. Bezalel Smotrich has drawn closer to Netanyahu, while Itamar Ben-Gvir remains outside the alliance, against the backdrop of his ambition for the defence portfolio.
Likud and Religious Zionism have launched a joint campaign to "save the right-wing bloc", aimed at strengthening and enlarging both parties ahead of the coming elections. Sources in the two factions say the personal ties between Benjamin Netanyahu and Bezalel Smotrich tightened over the last term, especially after Itamar Ben-Gvir's temporary departure from the government following the hostage deal, while Smotrich stayed in the government and paid the political price. The tightening axis includes setting up a joint field headquarters headed by Israel Ganz for Likud and Omer Rahamim for Smotrich, integrating hundreds of paid and volunteer activists, mapping audiences to raise turnout, planning a joint election-day schedule and a surplus-votes agreement between the parties. Last week Smotrich held a large Religious Zionism conference, attended by yeshiva heads and rabbis. Netanyahu immediately confirmed his participation and sat beside him, while Ben-Gvir was not invited. In Likud they claim Ben-Gvir is choosing a personal campaign and highlighting the intra-bloc confrontation, and that he has shown no willingness for budgetary or practical cooperation. The focus of the tension is the defence portfolio: Ben-Gvir has marked the post as a public goal, and Netanyahu seeks to prevent it by weakening Otzma Yehudit. A Religious Zionism official claims Ben-Gvir portrays the election as an internal bloc struggle between Netanyahu and himself.