When Likud announced that Defense Minister Israel Katz would be protected on the party's Knesset list, the official explanation focused on operational necessity—allowing him to concentrate exclusively on managing Israel's defense and security affairs. However, new details reported by journalist Sima Kadmon in Yedioth Ahronoth reveal a starkly different motivation behind the surprising late-night maneuver.
According to the report, the primary driver for the sudden and dramatic protection was an internal depth poll conducted among Likud members by the Agam Institute, headed by Dr. Nimrod Nir. The survey's findings revealed alarming results for the defense minister: Katz had slipped to just 13th place in member voting, and when factoring in protected slots and regional allocations, he would tumble all the way to 19th position on the list.
On the same night these damaging poll results were revealed, Likud's spokesperson issued an unusual statement at 1:00 AM announcing that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had decided to protect Katz on the list.
The Agam poll uncovered another significant finding: two additional senior ministers—Haim Katz and Gideon Sa'ar—would be completely shut out of the list and fail to secure realistic positions. The spokesperson's statement effectively indicated that Netanyahu decided to protect all three to prevent their removal in the primaries.
