Benjamin Netanyahu promoted fringe, extreme Zionist parties to positions of prominence to maintain the Likud party's Knesset majority.

Posted by The Pete Quiñones Show, Oct 1, 2026Checked Nov 2, 2026

Polygraph verdictTrue

Sources: 5 support
Said: 1 time·
Confidence: 60%

The Pete Quiñones ShowOct 1, 2026

Sources support the core of the claim: Netanyahu brought the far-right Religious Zionism and Otzma Yehudit parties into his 2022 government, giving Ben-Gvir and Smotrich ministerial posts, to build a 64-seat majority.

What we found

Supports. RTE describes Netanyahu bringing the far-right Otzma Yehudit party into his government, a party once shunned as too extreme, and notes Ben-Gvir and Smotrich hold senior ministerial posts.[2]

Supports. Al Jazeera reports Netanyahu's 2022 coalition of 64 seats included the far-right Religious Zionism alliance, which it calls Israel's most right-wing government to date.[3]

Supports. A 2023 policy brief says Netanyahu's Likud formed a coalition with the Religious Zionism list, which it describes as including the three most radical parties, and that its leaders could dictate terms to him.[4]

Supports. The Economist and The Conversation describe Likud as dependent on partners such as Otzma Yehudit and Religious Zionism to reach a Knesset majority, which supports the majority-maintenance motive.[1][5]

Context. Al Jazeera's headline 'Far from fringe' argues the far-right parties are mainstream, so the 'fringe' label is contested, but no source says the parties were not far-right.[3]