Likud Politician Oren Dobronsky Out of Knesset Race Over US Citizenship

Oren Dobronsky will not be included in the Likud party's national list for the Knesset, the Israeli parliament, due to his American citizenship, a senior Likud official announced Monday evening. This decision leaves Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with six reserved spots to fill.

Under Israeli law, Knesset members holding foreign citizenship are required to renounce it. For Dobronsky, renouncing his US citizenship could trigger significant exit taxes, making a Knesset term financially unviable. Consequently, the party opted not to place him on the national list but instead designated him as a candidate for a ministerial position.

Dobronsky confirmed the decision on his Facebook page, stating that Netanyahu had offered him a top-ten spot on the list and the role of Minister for AI. However, Dobronsky claimed he preferred to serve only as a professional minister, implying his decision was pre-arranged with Netanyahu and not solely due to his dual citizenship.

The development occurs amidst internal disputes within Likud regarding Netanyahu's reserved list placements. A petition by MK David Bitan to the party's tribunal challenged the reservation of Defense Minister Israel Katz, arguing it should be counted within Netanyahu's allocated spots and that candidate lists were not published on time. Bitan sought to cancel the reservations.

The party tribunal rejected Bitan's request to cancel the reservations, ruling that Katz's reservation would not be reopened. However, the tribunal criticized the late publication of the proposed list, calling it potentially "unseemly manipulation." The tribunal stipulated that if the list was not submitted by 9 PM, the Likud legal advisor would need to explain why a secret ballot would not be held. The deadline passed without the list being published. With Dobronsky's exclusion, Netanyahu now has six reserved spots remaining for the upcoming decision.