With less than a week to go before the election, pressure from right-wing parties on Ofer Winter to drop out of the race is mounting. Belaaz has learned that in the past few hours, the Prime Minister’s Office has also been working to recruit Rav Dovid Abuhatzeira, the mekubal of Nahariya and one of the rabbonim Winter follows, to instruct him to withdraw.

Yesterday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Minister Bezalel Smotrich met with Rabbi Eli Sadan, Winter’s rabbi, in an effort to get him to direct Winter to pull out of the race, or, at the very least, to publicly call on voters not to support him. Sources who were present at the meeting told Belaaz that Netanyahu presented the rabbi with a number of “dramatic events on the agenda in the near future.”

Last week, Belaaz reported that Netanyahu had also tried to meet with Rabbi Benayahu Shmueli, whose shiurim Winter attends, but the rabbi refused to meet with him.

Today, Smotrich issued a statement saying he is prepared to give up a ministerial post in the Defense Ministry from his Religious Zionism party’s share in favor of Winter. “I will give up a ministerial position allocated to my party for you if you withdraw and do not endanger the right,” Smotrich said.

Winter, a retired IDF brigadier general, 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, but Likud fears his run will waste right-wing votes if it falls short of the electoral threshold. His party has polled below the 3.25% electoral threshold in recent surveys, and he has said he has no intention of dropping out.