The Lasting Legacy of Smotrich and Ben-Gvir Amid Netanyahu's Political Crisis

Benjamin Netanyahu faces a looming political downfall while the hardline apparatus constructed by his far-right coalition partners remains deeply entrenched across Israeli administrative and security institutions.

As Israel’s opposition looks to unseat the prime minister, attention centers on the future of hardline figures like Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir. Their supporters and bureaucratic changes continue to shape policy, according to analysts.

Netanyahu told the Knesset on Tuesday that Israel must form a national unity government to face mounting international pressure and security threats.

Opposition figures have sharply rejected Netanyahu’s framing. Yashar party leader Gadi Eisenkot, who was recently tasked by President Isaac Herzog with forming a government, called Netanyahu’s address “delusional, divisive, hate-filled, and shameful.”

In the meantime, Smotrich has cautioned his ultra-Orthodox political partners against holding talks with Eisenkot, cautioning that he will “dump them” immediately after securing their votes to remove Netanyahu.

Since joining the coalition in 2022, Smotrich and Ben-Gvir have utilized their ministerial portfolios to expand illegal settlements, restrict Palestinian rights, and politicize the police force. Smotrich established a separate Settlement Administration and revived the E1 settlement project in August 2025.

Analysts note that removing the ministers from power would not easily reverse the administrative and personnel changes they enacted. Speaking to Al Jazeera, Arie Perliger of the University of Massachusetts Lowell explained that Smotrich’s impact is especially deep-seated owing to his success in turning his ideology into budgets, settlement policies, and administrative authority.

“Fascism is when the discrimination and the racism are carried in the soul,” Aida Touma-Suleiman, a former parliamentarian, told Al Jazeera.

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