Will Netanyahu Clip the Wings of His New Cabinet Hawks?

Newly sworn-in Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (R) chairs the first cabinet meeting of his new government in Jerusalem, on December 29, 2022. (AFP)
Newly sworn-in Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (R) chairs the first cabinet meeting of his new government in Jerusalem, on December 29, 2022. (AFP)
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Will Netanyahu Clip the Wings of His New Cabinet Hawks?

Newly sworn-in Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (R) chairs the first cabinet meeting of his new government in Jerusalem, on December 29, 2022. (AFP)
Newly sworn-in Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (R) chairs the first cabinet meeting of his new government in Jerusalem, on December 29, 2022. (AFP)

One is a pistol-packing ex-member of an outlawed Jewish militant group. The other is a religious fundamentalist. Both are West Bank settlers averse to Palestinians' self-rule - let alone their hopes of statehood.

And as senior coalition partners to reelected Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich will be within reach of the levers of power - a troubling prospect for Israel's once-dominant secular-left and friends in the West.

Netanyahu turned to the ultra-nationalists after centrist parties boycotted him over his long-running corruption trial. He needs their support to stay in office as he argues his innocence in court. But he denies this spells pliability to their demands.

"I will navigate this government. The other parties are joining me. I'm not joining them," Netanyahu told Al Arabiya on Dec. 15, pledging to enforce "liberal rightist" policymaking.

Besides, he said, "a lot of them have changed and moderated their views, principally because with the assumption of power comes responsibility".

There may be precedent in Avigdor Lieberman, a firebrand whose 2006 appointment as deputy prime minister triggered much the same response as Ben-Gvir's rise: liberal warnings of civil war and, on Israel's top TV satire, his lampooning as a Nazi.

Lieberman proved to be politically adaptable. He served in various coalitions - one of which included an Islamist party - and ended up in the current opposition, from which he has scorned Netanyahu's new allies as "zealots and extremists".

Still, Lieberman could also play spoiler from the right. As Netanyahu's foreign minister in a previous government, he would publicly promote a harder line on the Palestinians than the premier's. In a later term, Lieberman resigned as Netanyahu's defense minister in protest at a Gaza truce he deemed too lax.

Netanyahu's conservative Likud party has now retained the defense and foreign ministries. But the optics around Ben-Gvir and Smotrich may yet prove combustible for him - for example, if either man visits or prays at Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa mosque compound, an icon of Palestinian nationalism which is also the holiest site for Judaism as vestige of its two ancient temples.

Netanyahu's previous 15 years as premier saw him feathering the nests of the hawks in his cabinet - or clipping their wings - as he deemed necessary. Back then, however, he had parties to his left to help him function as an ideological fulcrum.

"With all the parties in the incoming government situated to Netanyahu's right, it will be difficult for him to replicate that role this time," argued Yohanan Plesner, president of the Israel Democracy Institute think-tank. "Does he want to?"

Pacing themselves

On Ben-Gvir's and Smotrich's calls for West Bank annexations, Netanyahu is on record as being in favor while also avoiding action on the ground that would risk escalating into confrontations with Washington or Arab partners.

Yet Smotrich did carve out a cabinet niche for himself overseeing settlements, which most world powers deem illegal for taking occupied land that Palestinians want for a state.

"He can be effective in multiplying and consolidating Israel's presence in the West Bank," said Amotz Asa-El, research fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute, noting Smotrich's high pace of infrastructure-building as a former transport minister.

For Ben-Gvir, by contrast, this is the first stint in government. As police minister, he will focus on law-and-order issues important to a swathe of Israelis, Asa-El predicted - including crime-hit Arabs against whom Ben-Gvir once agitated.

"After legitimating his position in broader Israeli circles, he will proceed to the realms that not all agree on - namely the West Bank," Asa-El said. But that may have to wait, as Ben-Gvir's portfolio does not grant major powers in the West Bank, which is under the overall control of the military.

Arguably, Ben-Gvir, 46, and Smotrich, 42, can afford to shelve some of their agendas for this round with Netanyahu, 73.

"But that's counting on restraint from people who come from very different ideological world-views than what we've seen in Israeli governments before," said Daniel Shapiro, a former US envoy to Israel and now Atlantic Council distinguished fellow.

Ben-Gvir came up through the Kahane Chai group, which is blacklisted in Israel and the United States for its virulently anti-Arab doctrines. Smotrich's advocacy of Jewish claims on the West Bank is informed by a doctrinaire faith in Bible prophesy.

Earlier generations of Israeli far-rightists in government "demonstrated an interest and capacity to engage in a genuine two-way dialogue with the United States and other international players, and seemed to recognize the limits on pursuing some of their most ideological positions," Shapiro said.

"It remains to be seen whether that approach will characterize members of the incoming coalition."

Alan Dershowitz, a prominent American-Jewish jurist who has advised US and Israeli leaders, said Ben-Gvir and Smotrich disavowed racism and homophobia in meetings with him this month.

"The word 'balance' came up a number of times" in their reassurances during the conversations, Dershowitz told Reuters.

"Obviously they were in some ways trying to get me to have a positive impression of them," he said. "Let's see what happens when I'm not in the room and the people in the room are pushing them to become more extreme. That's the litmus test."



Sara Netanyahu: The Ever-Present Wife of Israel’s Prime Minister

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (2-L), his wife Sara Netanyahu (L), US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth (2-R) and his wife Jennifer Rauchet Hegseth (R) participate in a welcome ceremony at the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, USA, 09 July 2025. (EPA)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (2-L), his wife Sara Netanyahu (L), US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth (2-R) and his wife Jennifer Rauchet Hegseth (R) participate in a welcome ceremony at the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, USA, 09 July 2025. (EPA)
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Sara Netanyahu: The Ever-Present Wife of Israel’s Prime Minister

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (2-L), his wife Sara Netanyahu (L), US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth (2-R) and his wife Jennifer Rauchet Hegseth (R) participate in a welcome ceremony at the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, USA, 09 July 2025. (EPA)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (2-L), his wife Sara Netanyahu (L), US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth (2-R) and his wife Jennifer Rauchet Hegseth (R) participate in a welcome ceremony at the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, USA, 09 July 2025. (EPA)

Whether dining opposite US President Donald Trump or accompanying her husband on an official Pentagon visit, Sara Netanyahu's front-row role in Washington this week has sparked fresh questions over her place in Israeli politics.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's third wife and the mother of two of his children, Sara Netanyahu has long made headlines, notably for her alleged involvement in the political decisions of her husband.

"My wife and I..." is a phrase often used by the Israeli premier in his official statements, helping to cement Sara's position at the forefront of public life.

This week, as the prime minister visited Washington for a series of high-level meetings in which he discussed a potential Gaza ceasefire deal with the US president, his wife was noticeably present.

On Tuesday, she was photographed sitting opposite Trump at an official dinner following a meeting between the two leaders.

Two days later, she appeared next to her husband, as well as US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and his wife, Jennifer Rauchet, as they arrived for meetings at the Pentagon.

But speculation had swirled even before the Netanyahus' departure for Washington.

On the eve of the trip, the prime minister's office announced the resignation of his spokesman Omer Dostri.

A few hours later, following media reports claiming that his wife had been involved in the decision, another statement was issued denying she had any role.

Sara Netanyahu has been the subject of several investigations, including for corruption, fraud and breach of trust, and has also been questioned in connection with her husband's ongoing graft trial.

Married to Benjamin Netanyahu since 1991, the 66-year-old is the target of frequent media attacks which are regularly denounced by her husband.

She has been caricatured in satirical programs for her fashion choices or her profession as a child psychologist, which she has often appeared to boast about.

But above all, she has been targeted for her alleged interference in state affairs.

- 'The real prime minister' -

In a video released in December 2024, Netanyahu denied that his wife was involved in his cabinet appointments or that she was privy to state secrets.

It followed an investigation into Sara Netanyahu aired by Israel's Channnel 12 which the prime minister slammed as a "witch hunt".

In 2021, a former senior official said he had seen a contract signed by the Netanyahus stipulating that Sara had a say in the appointment of Israeli security chiefs.

To that claim, the prime minister's office responded with a brief statement denouncing "a complete lie". The official lost a libel suit brought against him by the Netanyahus' lawyer.

And when the prime minister appointed David Zini as the new head of Israel's Shin Bet security service in May, Israeli journalists once again pointed to the possible influence of Sara Netanyahu, who is thought to be close to Zini's entourage.

Almost two years since the start of Israel's war against Hamas in Gaza, Sara Netanyahu seems to have established herself as more indispensable than ever, with some even attributing her with increasing influence on strategic issues.

In May, when Sara Netanyahu corrected the number of living Gaza hostages given by her husband during a recorded meeting with the captives' families, speculation swirled that she had access to classified information.

Journalist and Netanyahu biographer Ben Caspit went as far as to describe Sara Netanyahu as the "real prime minister".

"It has become public knowledge. It is an integral part of our lives... we are normalizing the fact that someone has dismantled the leadership of the state in favor of chaotic, family-based management," Caspit said in an opinion piece published on the website of the Maariv newspaper.

In an interview with US news outlet Fox News on Wednesday, Netanyahu described his wife as a "wonderful partner" and praised her help over the years.