Inset: Netanyahu, U.S. Department of Defense

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s campaign has zeroed in on Ofer Winter, pressing him to drop out of the race so that he doesn’t waste right-wing votes and cost Netanyahu the election.

In recent days, Netanyahu has repeatedly said that Winter must withdraw, calling him “Bennett No. 2.” Street ads have also gone up targeting Winter’s candidates and urging them to quit the race.

Sources tell Belaaz that over the past several days, several attempts have been made to set up a call between Netanyahu and Rabbi Benayahu Shmueli, the kabbalist known as Ofer Winter’s rabbi. Netanyahu wants to speak with him so that he will persuade his student, Winter, to pull out of the race.

However, Belaaz is told that Rabbi Shmueli is refusing to take Netanyahu’s calls, and is declining to get involved in the election altogether.

Ofer Winter is a retired IDF brigadier general who launched his right-wing party, Amcha Yisrael, in August. He has said the party is part of the right-wing camp and will recommend only Netanyahu for prime minister. Likud fears his run will split the right-wing vote, and Netanyahu has warned it could even push Smotrich’s Religious Zionism below the electoral threshold. According to previous reports, Netanyahu offered Winter a reserved slot on the Likud list, and Winter turned it down.

The pressure is expected to intensify as election day approaches.