Netanyahu’s coalition partners hailed his speech Friday to the UN General Assembly in which he said Israel is on the verge of normalizing ties with Saudi Arabia, while insisting they would not support Israeli concessions widely understood to be a critical component of the deal. Itamar Ben Gvir, head of the far-right Oztma Yehedit party said his and a second far-right party would quit the coalition if such concessions were made.

The responses highlighted the lack of wiggle room Netanyahu has to negotiate, even as both the US and Saudi Arabia have made clear that he will need to offer something significant to advance a two-state solution in order to get the deal across the finish line.

“If there will be concessions for the Palestinians, we will not remain in the government — and not just us, but the Religious Zionism party as well. Netanyahu can only make this deal with Benny Gantz,” National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, who heads the far-right Otzma Yehudit party, said in a statement, referring to the opposition National Unity faction chairman who has already ruled out the possibility of joining Netanyahu’s government to ensure a Saudi normalization deal.

Otzma Yehudit and Religious Zionism hold 14 Knesset seats together, and without them, Netanyahu’s coalition would lose its majority.

“Otzma Yehudit supports normalization — on this Netanyahu has our full support. But we will not accept any concessions to the Palestinians. I told the prime minister not to put us in a corner,” Ben Gvir said.

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, leader of Religious Zionism, praised Netanyahu’s performance at the UN but subtly indicated what he’d be willing to give in exchange for normalization with Arabia. “Together, with God’s help, we will bring peace for peace. We will continue to maintain Israel’s security, settle in all of its regions, developing along with all of the Middle East and the entire world,” he wrote on X.

Smotrich, who has spearheaded the government’s record-setting rate of approvals for settlement home construction, already said last month that he would not countenance any concessions for the Palestinians.

The term “peace for peace” was used by Netanyahu to describe the 2020 Abraham Accords, which turned the prevailing logic on its head by seeing Israel normalize ties with additional Arab countries before it reached a peace deal with the Palestinians.

But contrary to Netanyahu’s framing that Israel did not give up anything in exchange for normalization in 2020, he did agree to shelve plans to annex large parts of the West Bank as part of the UAE deal.

Several other coalition lawmakers used the same “peace for peace” phrase in their praise of Netanyahu’s speech on Friday, including Justice Minister Yariv Levin of Likud.

“We are advancing peace for peace. We are actualizing the vision of peace between Israel and the Arab world,” Levin wrote on Facebook.

Likud Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi said: “A powerful speech by Prime Minister Netanyahu. Together with him, we will advance peace with strength, based on truth. A new Middle East of peace for peace.”

Likud MK Danny Danon, a former envoy to the UN, appeared to be the only coalition lawmaker willing to acknowledge that a deal with Saudi Arabia will require Israeli gestures to the Palestinians.

However, Danon insisted in a Kan public broadcaster interview that they would be merely economic measures. “The Saudi issue should not be conditioned on the Palestinian issue,” he said.