Eli Cohen Likud Primary Win: Strategy Over Confrontation

Political correspondent Michael Shemesh weighed in Tuesday on Energy Minister Eli Cohen's first-place finish in the Likud party primaries, attributing the achievement to Cohen's strategic decision to avoid confrontation with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and instead focus on cultivating relationships with party members.

According to Shemesh, Cohen was penalized by Netanyahu during the most recent cabinet portfolio distribution. The prime minister assigned Israel Katz to serve half of Cohen's term as foreign minister, then later promoted Katz to defense minister while reassigning Cohen to the Energy Ministry.

Shemesh characterized this as a clear political blow to Cohen: "Any reasonable person knows that an injustice was done to him in the last portfolio distribution."

Cohen faced two possible responses to this setback, Shemesh explained. He could have become a rebel or disgruntled minister, engaging in internal conflicts and leaking against Netanyahu to the press, or he could set aside the political crisis and concentrate on his ministerial duties while strengthening ties with Likud members.

"Eli Cohen had to choose whether to become a rebel or bitter, briefing politics all day, or to focus purely on his work and on work with the party members," Shemesh wrote. "He chose the second option."

That choice paid off at the ballot box. When votes were tallied, Cohen secured first place in the Likud primaries, ahead of all other ministers and Knesset members competing on the national list.

Shemesh emphasized that Cohen earned his victory legitimately: "Now he received first place justly and deservedly."

The achievement stems not only from Cohen's day-to-day work and the relationships he cultivated with party members, Shemesh noted. He also praised the way Cohen conducted his internal campaign, describing it as "clean and high-quality" throughout the entire race to first place in the primaries.