Gantz blasts Netanyahu for making Ben Gvir ‘the real PM’ with expanded security role

Outgoing Defense Minister Benny Gantz said Friday that Prime Minister-Designate Benjamin Netanyahu was allowing far-right MK Itamar Ben Gvir to become the de facto premier in the next government after Likud signed an agreement with the extremist lawmaker’s Otzma Yehudit party that grants him an expanded security role.

The agreement signed hours earlier outlined the positions and authority that Otzma Yehudit will receive in the next government. Ben Gvir will be given a new title of national security minister and will be in charge of the national police force in addition to overseeing the Border Police’s West Bank Division.

To date, that unit has been under the auspices of the Defense Ministry and the IDF’s Central Command, with only limited input given to the Public Security Ministry.

The move means the far-right party leader will have control over Border Police troops involved in policing riots in the West Bank as well as the evacuation of settlement outposts, whose presence he has long supported.

Gantz said that establishing “a private army for Ben Gvir in [the West Bank] is dangerous … and will create real security failures.” READ MORE