MK Tzvika Fogel: “Worse Than a Wrong Turn”  

Otzma Yehudit MK Tzvika Fogel is the party’s lead security figure. In contrast to party chair Itamar Ben-Gvir, whom the left-wing media portrays as an extreme far-right “hilltop youth,” Tzvika Fogel is a brigadier general in the IDF reserves and a former artillery coordinator for the Southern Command. Among the many Israeli generals who have entered politics, Fogel was seen as a real asset that any party would be glad to add to its ranks. His appearance projects “security,” and it’s easy to imagine him starring on the Likud list, or even on a centrist list like Blue and White.

Which is why Tzvika Fogel was the main target of Netanyahu’s unsuccessful attempts to split Otzma Yehudit after Ben-Gvir’s resignation from the government. Like a falling domino, Ben-Gvir’s resignation immediately triggered Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich’s announcement that he’d topple the government if Netanyahu proceeds with the second phase of the hostage deal.

Caught between the hammer of Trump and the anvil of the Israeli far right, Netanyahu managed to extract MK Almog Cohen from the six-strong Otzma Yehudit faction. But per Israeli law, only a third or more of a faction’s members can split off from their parent faction, meaning that Bibi needs two defectors to tear the party apart. The serious Fogel, with his image as a security man, seemed to Bibi the obvious candidate. Instead of cooperating with the scheme, though, Fogel chose to very publicly blow it up.

“I have received overtures to split from Otzma Yehudit,” Fogel confirmed in a conversation with Mishpacha. “But I made it abundantly clear: I was elected [to the Knesset] on behalf of Otzma Yehudit, I’ve found an ideological home in Otzma Yehudit, and a friend and partner in Itamar Ben-Gvir. I have no intention of betraying that friendship, that partnership, or that ideology.”