'Not Ben-Gvir': Next defense minister should come from Likud, Netanyahu tells ‘Post’

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel's next defense minister should come from his Likud party, responding to a question about National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir's ambition to take the post. In an interview with The Jerusalem Post on his 77th birthday, Netanyahu said he hoped to form another government with his existing coalition partners while insisting that Likud would determine its policies. 'But it's going to be our government. We decide what the policy is,' he said. He did not name a candidate for defense minister. Ahead of the October 27 election, Netanyahu also outlined conditions for other parties to join a government he would lead, including 'no Palestinian state, period,' Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people, a security doctrine emphasizing initiative, a free-market economy, and expansion of peace agreements. He predicted further agreements with Arab countries but declined to identify prospective partners, saying 'many more than two.' He disputed that Arab governments privately object to his coalition partners, claiming 'most of them couldn't care less' and that regarding the Palestinian issue, 'they said, we have to say it, but we don't mean it.' He did not identify the officials whose private views he was describing. On his corruption trial, Netanyahu asserted it 'has collapsed' and demanded an immediate criminal investigation against those who led it. The trial remains ongoing. He dismissed alleged Qatari connections among his aides as 'a hoax.' On settler violence, he said the acts were wrong and caused 'enormous damage to Israel abroad.'