Itamar Ben-Gvir

The move was done as part of an "initial experiment aimed at ensuring the Middle East doesn't lose its mind over this," journalist Arnon Segal reported.

In an official statement last week, Ra’am’s chairman Mansour Abbas and Segalovitz said they had met and held a “cordial and positive” discussion about the possibility of Segalovitz joining Ra’am.

"They see Otzma's polls, they saw how strong we are, and they wanted to join," Ben-Gvir elaborated.

He voted against the January 2025 hostage deal, his own voters demanded he resign, and Ben-Gvir walked out. Smotrich stayed silent for five months. In an interview with the Post, he explained why.

“I think that right now the Religious Zionist public can and should run on its own as a big, strong, significant party,” Smotrich told the Post.

Settler extremists accused of cutting electricity, water to Palestinian homes • Locals describe feeling helpless as Ben-Gvir says some settlers "must be stopped"

How much longer before the IDF entirely loses the power to enforce order on violent Jewish extremists?

Shas MK Moshe Abutbul described the draft dodger as a "yeshiva guy" who approached the police to assist in an ongoing investigation, demanding that such procedures be changed to avoid arrests.

Hadash called Katz's urging for an investigation "a dangerous exploitation of the authority of the state and the military establishment for the purpose of political and racist persecution."

Arab and Muslim officials meeting in Amman condemned what they described as Israeli escalation in Jerusalem, according to Jordan's Foreign Ministry.