A number of Likud Knesset members said Monday they received phone calls from people close to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asking them to withdraw from the party's upcoming primaries in exchange for senior positions, according to a report by Kan News. Likud declined to comment on the report.
The outreach to lawmakers comes at a pivotal moment for the party, which is engaged in an intense internal fight over how its next Knesset list will be chosen. Netanyahu is pushing a framework described as a "combined track," blending open primaries, an internal arranging committee, and reserved slots that would give him substantial control over the makeup of the list, according to the report.
In a last-minute scheduling change, Likud's constitution committee meeting, which had been planned to take place at the prime minister's office, was moved instead to the King David Hotel in Jerusalem, set for 3 p.m. Monday.
Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli, a Likud lawmaker, addressed the internal debate in an interview with Kan Reshet Bet on Monday morning, saying he hoped a balance could be struck between bringing in new candidates and strengthening the party in the direction its leadership wants. "I don't think it will go to ten reserved slots. My personal estimate is that there will be somewhere between six and eight reserved slots, and there will be primaries," Chikli said. "This is a real party with a real grassroots, and so the place and the respect need to go to the people who are actually the heart of the movement, the活跃 party members."
MK David Bitan filed a petition with Likud's internal court last month seeking to block the cancellation of the primaries and their replacement with an arranging committee. "Tens of thousands of party members cannot be denied their right to choose their Knesset representatives a month before the primaries, with the rules of the game changed midway through," the petition states. Under Bitan's proposal, full primaries would be held, with the prime minister receiving three reserved slots among the top 30 positions and five total slots up to position 50. Nine district representatives, under his plan, would be chosen directly by members within each district rather than through a narrower party mechanism.
Bitan's proposal comes amid what the report described as peak tension within the Likud faction, alongside a dense round of meetings Netanyahu has been holding with ministers and Knesset members in his office. Netanyahu is seeking to soften internal opposition and prevent a rebellion or votes against the coalition's position in the narrow window remaining before the Knesset's scheduled dissolution on July 17.
According to a separate report by Ynet, the prime minister's proposal, submitted to Likud's constitution committee chaired by Minister Haim Katz, calls for the next Knesset list to be selected through a three-part system: one third of representatives chosen through primaries under Likud's current method, another third selected by an arranging committee, and the final third determined directly by the prime minister. District representatives would still be chosen through primaries among district members, but their position on the final list would be set according to two factors, the number of registered party members and the number of voters in that district. Ynet's report described the plan as intended to secure a favorable list for Netanyahu while addressing flaws identified in the party's last round of primaries.
A separate option reportedly acceptable to Netanyahu would have an arranging committee determine the placement of ministers and Knesset members entirely, limiting primaries to district representatives and reserved representation slots.
