Likud MK and Economic Affairs Committee chair David Bitan won a partial victory in his effort to block Prime Minister and party leader Benjamin Netanyahu from canceling the party primaries. The party’s Supreme Court ruled that the primaries cannot simply be scrapped, and that if Netanyahu wants to abolish them he would need to push legal changes through Likud institutions.
The court said Likud’s constitution does not contain a formal “arrangements committee” and that the lawful path is to hold primaries. At the same time, it rejected Bitan’s request for an injunction, saying the demand to cancel the primaries was not yet official. “From reading the petition, it appears to be based on complaints from close associates, who say the movement’s leaders intend to cancel the primaries and establish an ‘arrangements committee,’” the judges wrote. “With all due respect to the briefings from close associates, however important they may be politically, they carry no legal weight.”
Bitan told ynet and Yedioth Ahronoth that he would keep fighting Netanyahu’s demand to cancel the primaries or secure reserved slots on the list, which he said was the condition set before party members. He called it “a political trick.” “Ten reserved slots that Netanyahu demands are basically the same as an arrangements committee,” Bitan said. “If he gets ten personal slots on the list, the primaries no longer matter.”
Meanwhile, senior Likud figures said local officials aligned with Netanyahu have been approaching ministers and MKs and trying to “tempt” them with realistic positions on the list in return for backing the primaries’ cancellation. Those figures said it is unclear whether the offers are being made with Netanyahu’s approval. One Likud MK said local officials are moving among faction members and offering them list spots, sometimes offering the same spot to several candidates. The article was first published at 00:00 on June 23, 2026.
