Likud MK Tally Gottlieb Sets Conditions for Leaving Party

Member of Knesset Tally Gottlieb revealed on Monday the conditions under which she would consider leaving the Likud party, expressing disappointment with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu following the party's primaries. Gottlieb stated that her "enormous loyalty to the Prime Minister and the right-wing government has always been enormous. I completely sacrificed myself for the Prime Minister and the right-wing government." She added that while she doesn't expect applause, she will not accept being "degraded" while fighting against what she described as "the rule of clerks and the laxity in Supreme Court decisions."

Gottlieb claimed that the Prime Minister followed the advice of his advisors to "fail me in a targeted manner in the primaries." She attributed her second-place finish in the primaries to the support of "right-wing Likud members," but due to reserved seats, she now finds herself in the twentieth position. She further alleged that Netanyahu "excluded me from the Likud campaign" and that campaign members decided not to address the "duty to curb the power of the Supreme Court." Gottlieb also accused campaign members of continuing to "leak information against me and portray me as an element that weakens Likud."

She indicated that she would "seriously consider" a "realistic offer" from another party that would "respect my electoral strength and my clear ability, thank God, to be a minister in a high-importance position, in the name of my voters." However, she stated that "there is no such offer so far."