Four months before Israel’s election, the Likud is facing a growing internal fight over how its next Knesset slate will be chosen. Committee chair MK David Bitan filed a petition Sunday morning to the Likud court seeking to block Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s plan to build the list through a selection committee instead of the party’s primary elections, which are written into the Likud constitution.
In an interview with ynet, Bitan said Netanyahu’s approach could eventually destroy the party. Asked whether the prime minister wants a committee because primaries can elevate weaker candidates, Bitan rejected that argument. “This is not true,” he said. “We are a democratic party for more than 70 years. That is the system, and it cannot be changed.” He argued that the party’s democratic process is what kept it together and brought many of its senior figures into politics.
Bitan said Netanyahu is “in love with the idea of a committee,” and recalled that the prime minister himself benefited from Likud democracy when he entered the party after serving at the UN. He said there is nothing wrong with reserved spots on the list, but warned that 10 such seats would be “like a committee,” and noted that past Likud leaders Menachem Begin, Yitzhak Shamir and Ariel Sharon did not use such protections.
If a committee is approved, Bitan said, “the Likud movement will disappear, not today, but within a few years.” He also dismissed the fact that some current Likud lawmakers are under investigation, saying that a person is presumed innocent until proven guilty. Asked about the Trump administration’s recent memorandum with Iran and Washington’s influence over Israel in the north, Bitan said that is currently the reality. He backed Operation Lion’s Roar, saying Israel and the U.S. struck Iran’s missile and nuclear infrastructure for 40 days, but said Israel depended too much on Donald Trump’s support, calling the former president’s reversals a serious problem.
