Likud lawmakers said increasingly worried Netanyahu will skip holding primaries

Likud ministers and lawmakers are increasingly fearful that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will attempt to cancel party primaries set for August and instead establish a selection committee to pick the party’s slate for the coming national elections, according to a new report.

The Ynet outlet said that party backbenchers believe such a committee would push them down the roster with higher spots being filled by the prime minister’s picks, leaving them struggling to retain their seatsin parliament in what is expected to be a hard-fought election.

One Likud lawmaker warned that abandoning the traditional primaries in favor of a Netanyahu-controlled committee would have “immediate” and “painful” political consequences.

The premier has sought to secure unprecedented influence over Likud’s Knesset slate, while broadening the party’s appeal beyond its traditional activist base. But the push has run into resistance from influential figures within his own party, exposing a rare internal power struggle over who will shape Likud’s future parliamentary lineup.

Netanyahu is reportedly concerned that primaries could elevate candidates who are highly popular among the Likud base but who, internal party polling suggests, are less appealing to moderate right-wing and swing voters whose support could prove decisive in the upcoming election.

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On Sunday, the Likud’s Constitution Committee chairman, Minister Haim Katz, met with Netanyahu at the minister’s home. According to Hebrew media reports, the two reached an agreement regarding reserved spots on the party slate, if primaries are held.

Netanyahu is asking for 10 reserved spots for candidates of his choice in the party’s slate, eight of which would be in the top 25, Channel 12 reported at the time without citing sources.

The party is expected to vote on the proposal next week. It is set to hold party primaries on August 4.

The Channel 12 report added that a proposal to keep almost all of the party’s members in their current positions may be brought to a steering committee.

A reported plan by Netanyahu to have the primaries canceled altogether appears to have been shelved after fierce opposition from senior Likud figures, with MK David Bitan last month petitioning the party’s internal court to block any such attempt. In the meantime, Netanyahu has continued negotiating for the reserved spots, on the assumption that primaries will be held.

However, party lawmakers told Ynet that the more time passes without the constitution committee convening to set up primaries, the more likely it looks that Netanyahu will get his preference for a selection committee.

Unnamed senior Likud officials cited by the outlet noted that primaries require a fair amount of time to organize, and arrangements have not even begun. In addition, there is the bureaucracy involved in applying for funding from Knesset coffers under a system available to all candidates of parties that hold internal votes. The deadline for submitting requests is July 15, but the procedure needs to be initiated before that, according to the report.

Ynet said many ministers support the idea of a selection committee even if they do not say so publicly.

But backbenchers strongly oppose it, fearing they will lose their seats. One Likud lawmaker said that party MKs had “lain down on the wire” for Netanyahu by not demanding he be ousted after the devastating Hamas-led invasion of southern Israel on October 7, 2023.

He said that any move “that sends 60 percent of the faction home and only looks after seniors and close associates [of Netanyahu] will bring a painful political price — and not just for us. We won’t let it happen.”

The MK said that a slate that threatens backbenchers “could have immediate political consequences.” He noted the fiasco surrounding the repeat vote on choosing the next state comptroller due to a rebellion within the coalition, and even suggested possible mass desertions to the new party led by Gadi Eisenkot, Yashar, which polls have predicted will win around as many seats as Likud.

“Any harm to us will receive a response,” he said, noting that those who are pushed down the slate “have nothing to lose.”