Netanyahu warns Winter’s party could ‘bring down’ his coalition, urges meeting

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday again warned that Ofer Winter’s new People of Israel party could cost the outgoing right-wing coalition seats if it runs alone in the upcoming election, urging Winter to meet with him and address the issue. Netanyahu’s concerns came as he has so far been unsuccessful in his efforts to unite parties in his bloc ahead of a September 8 deadline to finalize slates before the October 27 election, risking votes backing him as prime minister being wasted if one of the smaller parties fails to cross the electoral threshold. “I’m concerned that this party could do one of two things: either waste votes or cause one of the parties I mentioned to fall [below the electoral threshold],” the prime minister said during an appearance on the pro-Netanyahu Channel 14. Netanyahu asserted that Winter was drawing almost no support from voters backing rivals B’Yachad chair Naftali Bennett or Yisrael Beytenu chair Avigdor Lieberman and urged him to coordinate with the broader right-wing camp. “I say to Winter: Let’s meet, let’s talk. Immediately. To prevent a situation in which a party like this brings down the bloc,” Netanyahu said, while also confirming reports that the two have already met to discuss the issue. According to those reports, Winter refused the premier’s request to coordinate. Get The Times of Israel's Daily Edition by email and never miss our top stories Newsletter email address Get it By signing up, you agree to the terms Winter rejected Netanyahu’s comments, saying in a statement that his party is “part of the right-wing camp” but “doesn’t work for anyone — only for the people of Israel.” The launch of the new People of Israel party, led by Ofer Winter (center), in Jerusalem, August 25, 2026. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90) He said “what endangers the right-wing camp and the entire people of Israel” are policies of the current government. Winter has cited poor security leadership, including what he described as failures to confront Hamas, the entry of hundreds of aid trucks into Gaza and the failure to draft the ultra-Orthodox. “There is only one genuine possibility for change in the right-wing camp and in general — new people who had no part in the failures of October 7,” he said. Advertisement Meanwhile, Liberman said he welcomed Winter’s entrance into politics. Asked by a reporter if Netanyahu should be worried by his reported good relationship with Winter, amid reports the premier is concerned Winter will ally with the opposition, Liberman said, “Fearful people should go to the doctor. There is medication against paranoia; they should take it.” Winter, a former general, was Liberman’s military secretary when he was defense minister. Winter launched People of Israel in Jerusalem on Tuesday, presenting it as a new right-wing party that would pursue a hawkish security policy while seeking to appeal across different sectors of Israeli society. Netanyahu has also so far failed in his efforts to unite National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir’s Otzma Yehudit and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich’s Religious Zionism, which ran together in the last election on a joint slate. Religious Zionism has been hovering above the electoral threshold according to polling. Israel’s system of proportional representation requires any given party to receive at least 3.25 percent of the vote to gain seats in the Knesset; otherwise its votes are not counted. Advertisement National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, center, and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich at a ‘Victory Conference’ at the International Convention Center in Jerusalem on January 28, 2024. (Chaim Goldberg/ Flash90) Channel 13 news reported on Sunday that Netanyahu offered Ben Gvir to fill his reserved spots in the Likud list if he joined up with Smotrich, but the Otzma Yehudit leader refused. Netanyahu told Channel 14 during the interview on Sunday that he didn’t understand Ben Gvir’s “rage” and his refusal to join up with Smotrich. “When Smotrich was high, and he was low, Ben Gvir called on him to put aside his ego and unite, and Smotrich did the responsible thing. Today Ben Gvir needs to do the responsible thing,” Netanyahu said. Ahead of the 2022 election, Ben Gvir and Smotrich initially struggled to agree on a joint slate, trading insults as negotiations repeatedly stalled. Netanyahu eventually intervened personally and brokered a technical alliance between Otzma Yehudit and Religious Zionism, which ran together and won 14 seats . After the election, the alliance split back into separate factions. Separately, Shas spiritual leader Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef on Sunday also attacked Ben Gvir, who often visits the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. Ultra-Orthodox Jews believe it is forbidden to go to the Mount, once the site of the Biblical Jewish Temples, as its holiness precludes setting foot there. “Why are you going up to the Temple Mount? What authority does your rabbi have?” Yosef was seen asking followers in footage broadcast by Channel 12. Ben Gvir is a disciple of Rabbi Dov Lior, formerly the chief rabbi of the Jewish community in Hebron. Advertisement “What kind of rabbi does he have in Hebron?” Yosef said. “I know his books. With all due respect, he doesn’t come close to any of the great rabbis. National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, center, waves the Israeli flag as he tours the Temple Mount in Jerusalem’s Old City during Jerusalem Day celebrations on May 14, 2026. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90) “The great rabbis of the generation made a decision [against visiting the Mount]. That’s it. Start listening to the great rabbis. Who do you think you are?” Those who go to the Mount “will be punished for this, there’s no doubt about it,” he said. “Everyone dies in the end, right? Everyone dies. The question is how you die… Maybe they’ll die in excruciating agony… I’m not cursing them. I’m stating a reality.” On Saturday, Yosef was quoted assailing Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara, calling on God to “finish her” over her recent order to delay until after the coming Knesset election a state-funded memorial event marking the death of his father, Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, over electioneering concerns. Netanyahu: Israel’s existence at stake, Eisenkot would establish Palestinian state Also on Channel 14, Netanyahu said on Sunday Israel’s very existence is at stake in the coming elections, while attacking his chief electoral rival, former IDF chief Gadi Eisenkot, over his wartime security positions. Hailing Israel’s military achievements since Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack, Netanyahu repeated his contention that he was forced to override intense domestic and international pressure to pursue key military operations in Gaza, Lebanon, Syria and Iran — pressure he alleges also came from Eisenkot. “From a situation in which we have become a global power — certainly a regional power, but in certain respects a global one as well — we could deteriorate all at once. That is what is at stake in these elections: the existence of the State of Israel,” he proclaimed. Netanyahu again accused Eisenkot of opposing Israel’s entry into Rafah, seizure of the Philadelphi Corridor that runs along Gaza’s border with Egypt, and expanded operations against Hezbollah. Eisenkot has disputed Netanyahu’s account. Asked by host Yinon Magal whether he would be willing to release transcripts of wartime meetings, Netanyahu replied: “If that’s the request, I’m certainly considering it. I’m certainly prepared to do it. I think it would be a very positive thing, because it’s important for the public to see the truth — what was said.” Advertisement He added that “There are missions that still need to be completed, and there are also new threats,” singling out Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan amid heightened security tensions with Turkey over events in Syria. Head of the Yashar party Gadi Eisenkot at an agriculture-focused election campaign conference of the Yashar party at the Drom HaSharon Regional Council building in central Israel, July 27, 2026. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90) Netanyahu further reiterated his claim that Eisenkot would be dependent on political partners including Democrats chair Yair Golan, Liberman and Ra’am chair Mansour Abbas, arguing that such a coalition would be unable or unwilling to “finish the job” as needed on Israel’s various military fronts. “You know very well what they will do. There will be a fire sale here. They will immediately leave Lebanon. They will leave Gaza. They will leave Syria. And they will establish a Palestinian state here. And they say it. They conceal it, but that’s what they think,” he said, “And this won’t just be some Palestinian state. It will be a Palestinian state backed by major powers, and that will be the beginning of the end of Israel. We will go into free fall.” Eisenkot has repeatedly ruled out a Palestinian state, most recently in a weekend interview with the Israel Hayom newspaper in which he said, “Anyone who is thinking about a two-state solution after October 7 is just delusional.” Eisenkot’s Yashar party fired back after the interview, stating, “A detached prime minister sits there with the only thing he has to offer the country’s citizens being yet more ridiculous lies about Eisenkot,” in a statement from the party. “We all know why you refuse to establish a state commission of inquiry. You’re terrified of the moment Israeli citizens discover the truth: who really pushed for what, and who was so afraid of a ground operation in Gaza, the capture of Rafah and an attack on Iran.” A new poll aired by Kan news on Sunday saw both Smotrich’s Religious Zionism and Winter’s People of Israel passing the electoral threshold in the October election. However, such a result did not seem to improve Netanyahu’s prospects, with his current coalition of right-wing parties securing only 48 seats in parliament. If Winter joins him — as he has indicated he would — it would rise to 52, still far below a 61-seat majority. Gadi Eisenkot’s Yashar leads the poll with 24 seats; Likud has 21; B’Yachad 14; The Democrats 9; Yisrael Beytenu 8; United Torah Judaism 8; Joint (Arab) List 8; Otzma Yehudit 7; Shas 7; Religious Zionism 5; Ra’am 5; and People of Israel 4. The opposition bloc, without the Arab parties, would clinch 55 seats in this scenario. 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