Likud’s Primaries Debate Could Weaken the Party, David Bitan Warns

Likud MK David Bitan sharply opposed a plan to replace the party’s primaries with a selection committee, warning in an interview on Radio 103FM that the change does not fit Likud’s character and could damage the movement’s future. Speaking with Gideon Oko and Amichai Attali, he said Likud has always rested on a democratic structure and on the connection between elected lawmakers and party members.

Bitan argued that changing the system only a month before the primaries would be unacceptable. He said, "What I am saying is that this selection committee system does not suit Likud. Likud has been built on a democratic basis all these years. The whole foundation of Likud is the connection between the elected officials and the members of the central committee, it gives the party life. You cannot change the system a month before the primaries." He also said, "Netanyahu would of course want to be like the other parties, it tickles his hands, so to speak, but it does not suit Likud."

He recalled that Benjamin Netanyahu himself entered Likud through the democratic process after, in Bitan’s telling, the party’s "princes" did not want him. Bitan warned that canceling primaries could lead to the movement’s decline, and when asked whether Likud could disappear without them, he replied, "In eight years, I think yes." He added that although he is not satisfied with every member of the current list, he does not set its composition.

On MK Tally Gotliv, Bitan said that even if a selection committee is created, "Netanyahu will put Tally Gotliv on the list," and noted that if the prime minister wants to bring in preferred candidates, he can reserve a number of seats. He also said Netanyahu would not quit politics if he lost the internal battle or the national election, calling him a fighter and pointing to the period after the Bennett-Lapid government was formed, when Netanyahu stayed in the Knesset until he returned to power.

Bitan also addressed Netanyahu’s ties with U.S. President Donald Trump, saying the dispute between them has political consequences. "Trump is causing damage to Likud, that is completely clear in terms of his conduct, but we will know how to deal with it," he said, adding that the harm is קודם כול to Israel and only then to Likud. He further predicted that Israel may face war rounds with Iran every year and a half or two years because of the need to confront Tehran’s expanding missile force.