Billionaire Trump backer Bill Ackman says Ben-Gvir, Smotrich should not serve in next Israeli govt

Billionaire American investor Bill Ackman on Sunday said that Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich should not serve in Israel’s next government, saying the two far-right politicians had caused enormous damage to the country’s reputation. The public intervention by the prominent hedge fund manager, who is Jewish, comes just two days before Israel’s general election, in which polls show a tight race between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition and the opposition. Ackman wrote on X that from the perspective of someone who had an understanding of how Israel was perceived in the United States, “Ben-Gvir and Smotrich have caused Israel enormous reputational damage with their statements and actions”.

The founder of Pershing Square Capital Management, who praised Netanyahu last week, said a government without the two ministers would send a message that Israel was “turning a new page”. “This will allow Israel to rebuild lost credibility, increase the opportunity for an expansion of the Abraham Accords, and enjoy a better relationship with Democrats and Republicans and Americans at large,” he said. The Abraham Accords are the 2020 agreement, mediated by US President Donald Trump’s first administration, that saw Israel establish relations with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain. It later re-established official ties with Morocco. Representatives for Ben-Gvir and Smotrich did not immediately respond to requests for comment. As ministers in Netanyahu’s religious-nationalist coalition, Ben-Gvir and Smotrich have overseen policies widely perceived as discriminatory against Israel’s minority Arab population and Palestinians living in the occupied West Bank. Several countries, including Britain, Canada and Australia, have imposed sanctions on the two ministers over…