Netanyahu Likud Primary Results: Party Faces Voter Appeal Challenge

Aviv Bushinsky, who previously served as an adviser to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, offered a critical assessment Tuesday of the results of Likud's primary elections.

Speaking on 103FM radio with hosts Anat Davidov and Gideon Uku, Bushinsky said Netanyahu now enjoys unchallenged authority within Likud. "He has hegemony, he won't have rivals, he eliminated all his opponents. All his opponents evaporated," he observed. However, he added a cautionary note: "In my opinion, this list is very pale. Overall, Netanyahu has a very comfortable list."

According to Bushinsky, the prime minister achieved several of his pre-election objectives: "Netanyahu got what he wanted, Miri Regev as the first woman, Idit Silman and May Golan out, which is no great loss to Israeli politics."

The former adviser also addressed Justice Minister Yariv Levin's second-place finish, despite facing internal party criticism. "Many people in Likud were angry at him for being brutal with the judicial reform," Bushinsky noted, though he clarified the result wasn't catastrophic for Levin.

He expressed surprise at the low placement of Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee Chairman Boaz Bismuth. "Bismuth placed very low. When people talked about Gur Hasidim being pushed into the Likud primaries, they thought he would place very high."

Bushinsky suggested that Avi Dichter, whom he described as "the only security expert in Likud," may not make it into the next Knesset. "In the current situation, the list isn't very attractive to those who want to be in the ruling party," he said.

The former adviser estimated that Netanyahu will now need to recruit fresh faces: "Now everything depends on whether Netanyahu succeeds in recruiting players who will make the list newer and better."

Despite Netanyahu's firm grip on the party, Bushinsky identified an emerging power center that could pose future challenges. "There's a new axis here: Bitan-Barkat, even though they don't like each other," he said. According to Bushinsky, Netanyahu wants to prevent a "faction within a faction" or a breakaway list.

Regarding the upcoming general elections, Bushinsky sounded a pessimistic note: "This list? I don't think it will be very attractive. Likud is not in good shape." He noted that Netanyahu is counting on approximately 640,000 new voters who tend to lean right-wing.