A preference for enemies over partners: How Smotrich and Ben-Gvir control Netanyahu

ITAMAR BEN-GVIR (left) and Bezalel Smotrich sit in the Knesset plenum, on the day that the current government was approved and inaugurated, December 29, 2022.

Last week, in response to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s statement that “What Hamas did on October 7 has thwarted Israel’s normalization with Saudi Arabia,” Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas said: “The Palestinians are paying the price of the war and Khamenei’s statements make it clear that the goal [of Iran] is “...to sacrifice Palestinian blood. [This] will never lead to the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with east Jerusalem as its capital... what we want is the end of the occupation.”

This exchange of statements clarifying the division of the parties in the conflict illustrates the abysmal gap between Hamas and the jihad supported by Iran on the one hand and the PA on the other, and why the PA has been and remains, even after October 7, the major partner in pursuing the interests of the State of Israel.

Absurd as it may be, within our own government, there are those who share the vision of Hamas and Iran, which would mean an endless war of attrition.

Recently, the Shin Bet (Israel’s secret service) sent a strategic warning to the political echelon and the security community, that a number of actions carried out in recent years against the PA could lead to its economic collapse. The warning followed a series of decisions by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, also a minister in the Defense Ministry responsible for policy toward the West Bank, who has been deliberately and consistently acting against the PA.

Netanyahu's coalition allies doing everything to stop the PA

While the PA has proved time and time again that it is a trustworthy security partner and can also be a political partner, the government under the leadership of Smotrich is doing everything in its power to collapse it, contrary to the position of all the security institutions.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks with Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich during a cabinet meeting in Tel Aviv. (credit: REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun/Pool)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks with Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich during a cabinet meeting in Tel Aviv. (credit: REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun/Pool)

Smotrich is working to cut off the PA from Israel’s financial system, he is using his authority to stop transferring tax payments that belong to the PA and continues to prevent the return of Palestinian workers to Israel – together with his partners in the government and against recommendations of all security officials.

As a result of these actions, the security forces are now alerting about the collapse of the PA and the dire consequences for Israel’s security of such a scenario. The economic strangulation of the PA carried out by the Israeli government occurs while money from Iran continues to flow to the West Bank with the aim of promoting terrorist attacks.

Smotrich is not stupid, he understands the security dangers in the collapse of the PA’s economy, but this is exactly his goal. His ideological partner, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, also supports the vision of chaos driven by Iran and the efforts to weaken the PA. During Jerusalem Day celebrations Ben-Gvir stated that his policy is that Jews would be allowed to carry out religious rituals on the holy Temple Mount.

This is the first time that an Israeli minister responsible for the security on the Temple Mount publicly deviates from the status quo, which forbids Jewish prayer inside the compound of the Temple Mount.

Even Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who usually cooperates with the whims of his far-right partners, responded to Ben-Gvir’s statement at the security forces' request, saying: “The status quo on the Temple Mount has not changed and will not change.”

In reality, the status quo is often violated with the backing of the Ben-Gvir police to the joy of the Iranians and Hamas and the dismay of the PA, the Jordanians, and our security forces. The security officials know very well that changing the status quo on the Temple Mount will certainly lead to bloodshed, as has happened many times in the past.

The Israeli government is doing everything it can to crush the PA, not because it is dangerous, but because it is moderate. Not because it is an enemy, but because it can be a partner. The greatest fear of extremists and messianics such as Smotrich and Orit Struck is from Palestinians who are interested in a peace settlement. There are no partners more loyal and devout for our extremists than the extremists of the other side, Hamas and Jihad.

Nothing has changed in their perception after October 7, which is all the result of their twisted policy of weakening the partners and strengthening the enemies of Israel.

While Hamas kidnapped our sisters and brothers, the Israeli government was kidnapped by a messianic and dangerous group, for whom the massacre and the war are an opportunity to return to the Gaza Strip and rebuild Kfar Darom, Netzarim, and Gush Katif and they will not let up until they achieve this.

On the way there, they are taking advantage of a prime minister who is weak and a complete cynic and will do anything to stay in power, including sacrificing the 120 hostages, mortally harming Israel’s most vital interests, and turning it into a weakened outcast, condemned by the international community.

WHILE THE IDF has gone to war in Gaza to restore security to the South, the goal of a large part of Israel’s governing coalition is something else. For them, October 7 has become an excuse for the truly important goal, which is the re-establishment of the settlements in the Gaza Strip and the transfer of Palestinians out of Area C of the West Bank. When that is the goal, it is clear that there is no room for a deal that would bring the hostages back and allow the United States and the Arab countries to promote a moderate replacement for the Hamas government in Gaza.

The result is that in order to “whitewash” the real goal of settling in the Gaza Strip, the slogan “total victory” was invented, a goal that it is clear to all will never be achieved, simply because there is no such thing as “total victory” over a terrorist organization. It hasn’t been until now and it won’t be in the future.

We have all fallen captive to the coalition of messianism and corruption, which lead to endless war, the goals of which are not the return of security and the kidnapped men and women, but the return of the settlements to the Gaza Strip and the preservation of the rule of Netanyahu and his aides.

The Israeli government led by Smotrich, Struck, Ben-Gvir, and Netanyahu is realizing the exact vision of Iran and Hamas. This alliance of extremists is the greatest danger to the State of Israel today.

The writer is J Street-Israel’s executive director. He served as an Israeli diplomat in Washington and Boston and as a political adviser to the president of Israel.