Winter rejects effort to push him out of election as right fears lost votes - report
Netanyahu and Smotrich seek influential rabbi’s help in persuading the Amkha Yisrael leader to withdraw amid concerns his party will fail to enter the Knesset
With one week to go before Israel’s parliamentary elections, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Religious Zionism leader Bezalel Smotrich met with Rabbi Eli Sadan in an effort to persuade Ofer Winter to abandon his campaign, according to Israeli media outlet Ynet.
The move reflects concern on the right that Winter’s Amkha Yisrael party will fail to cross the electoral threshold, leaving votes that could help secure a right-wing majority without parliamentary representation.
Winter, a reserve general, has close ties with Sadan, who heads the Bnei David pre-military academy in Eli, and regularly seeks his advice. Netanyahu and Smotrich reportedly hoped the rabbi could convince him to withdraw.
Winter sharply rejected the intervention, accusing the two leaders of trying to pressure him out of the race.
“Netanyahu, I heard that you and Smotrich are going to Rabbi Eli Sadan to put pressure on me to make me step down. Let it be clear: the people of Israel long for different policies. They are fed up with the vile and immoral campaign you have led and the dishonest methods you employ,” he said.
His remarks followed allegations by party members that they had faced threats and harassment aimed at persuading them to leave the party.
Presenting his campaign as an alternative to the current right-wing leadership, Winter called for leaders willing to acknowledge their mistakes and failures and capable of uniting the Jewish people.
“We are here solely for the Jewish people and we will go to the very limits of our strength,” he said.
Concerns about the party’s electoral prospects have already prompted one candidate to leave. Davidi Ben Zion, who held the eighth spot on its slate, announced his withdrawal the previous week, citing the risk that Amkha Yisrael would fall short of the threshold.
“With two weeks left until the elections, in light of the situation taking shape, the risk of failure seems high and I am not willing to let the votes of those who believed in this path slip away,” Ben Zion wrote on X.
Winter has pushed back against suggestions that his candidacy could cost the right a majority, instead arguing that Netanyahu would bear responsibility if Amkha Yisrael failed to win seats.
Speaking at a conference hosted by Ynet and Yedioth Ahronoth, he accused the prime minister of undermining his party despite its place within the right-wing camp.