The Likud and Otzma Yehudit Party have agreed that the Otzma Yehudit faction will return to the Israeli government today, and Otzma Yehudit ministers will resume their positions in the government, the two parties said in a joint statement on Tuesday.
The announcement comes after Israel renewed strikes on Hamas and PIJ targets in the Gaza Strip.
Otzma Yehudit chairman MK Itamar Ben-Gvir will return to his prior position as National Security Minister, Otzma Yehudit number two Yitzhak Wasserlauf will return to his position as Negev and Galilee Minister, and Amichai Eliyahu will return as Heritage Minister. All three positions were given to Tourism Minister Haim Katz for “safeguarding” in case Otzma Yehudit returned to the government.
Otmza Yehudit’s six MKs returning to the governing coalition means that the government now has a sizable majority to pass the 2025 state budget, without which the government would have fallen. The government previously had a narrow majority since some haredi MKs pledged to vote against the budget due to the government’s failure to enact legislation to exempt a large number of yeshiva students from military service.
Early signs of goodwill
Already on Monday, the government reached agreements with Ben-Gvir, according to which the latter’s party will abstain on the Economics Arrangements Bill, which is set to reach the Knesset plenum on Wednesday. The Economics Arrangements Bill accompanies the national budget every year, and includes related legal amendments that are necessary for the budget to be carried out in full.
Ben-Gvir agreed to abstain as a “goodwill gesture” over the prime minister’s decisions to fire Shin Bet head Ronen Bar and Attorney-General Gali Baharav Miara. It remains to be seen whether he conditioned his return to the government on the final removal of both figures.
His criticism of Baharav-Miara intensified after the latter wrote to Netanyahu in January that he would need to receive legal consultation in order to reappoint Ben-Gvir as National Security Minister, due to a series of alleged improper interventions into operational police work.
Baharav-Miara’s letter came as part of an ongoing procedure in the High Court, as a result of four petitions against Netanyahu in September demanding that he fire Ben-Gvir over the “extreme unreasonableness” of his occupying the position.
The procedure was halted after Ben-Gvir’s departure from the government, but Baharav-Miara indicated at the time that it would likely resume if Netanyahu attempted to reappoint him.
Communications Minister MK Shlomo Karhi (Likud) wrote on X on Tuesday that the A-G’s opinion was “non-obligatory and does not interest anyone, especially not a government elected by the people.”
The attorney-general is responsible for interpreting the law on behalf of the government, and many High Court rulings have determined that her interpretation of the law is binding.