Jerusalem Daily: Ben-Gvir sets out bid to become defence minister

Itamar Ben-Gvir, who currently serves as Israel’s national security minister, is mounting a bid to become defence minister as the country heads into elections in October, Al Jazeera reports. The move represents an effort by a prominent member of the current government to secure a central security portfolio during the campaign period. The report links the political maneuvering to broader security developments. Al Jazeera’s coverage says Israeli army raids on the West Bank have risen after an Israeli soldier was injured in a car-ramming incident near Ramallah. Those operations and the political contest for defence leadership are occurring against the backdrop of heightened tensions ahead of the vote. Al Jazeera’s piece was filed by correspondent Mohammad Saleh. It frames Ben-Gvir’s bid as part of electoral positioning in the run-up to the October ballot, while noting contemporaneous security actions by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank. The story underscores the overlap between electoral politics and security dynamics in Israel at this stage. As parties and candidates jockey for positions ahead of the October elections, changes in key ministerial posts such as defence remain central to public debate and to how the government might approach security challenges in the near term.