Tally Gotliv: There Will Be Primaries, We Are Not a One-Man Party

In a discussion of Tally Gotliv’s request for immunity from criminal prosecution in the Knesset House Committee, the Likud MK told 103FM on Thursday that despite published reports, the Likud Party will hold primaries, in keeping with the party’s tradition: “You are diminishing the leadership power of the prime minister and you think he does not want strong people around him.” She added that “the prime minister wants excellent people in the party.”

The MK stressed: “I have news for you, there will be primaries. No court will help, primaries are the glory of the Likud Party.” She also said, “I understand that this really bothers [people]. Oh no, Tally Gotliv, this right-wing woman, the one who thinks terror supporters should not be in the Knesset, the one who thinks there is a narrative of harm to Jews in Judea and Samaria.” She later revealed that despite recent rumors, Netanyahu very much wants her in the party: “I know that Netanyahu wants me very, very much.”

As support for her claim, she explained: “You can count on one hand the denials from Netanyahu of reports in the media. When was there an orderly denial from his office? When Amit Segal published that Netanyahu and Yariv Levin spoke and said that I am weakening Likud, then a denial came from the Prime Minister’s Office.” Gotliv stressed: “You know what kind of poll the prime minister did on me? How much am I worth? Thank God, I am worth five mandates.”

“There will be primaries. No court will help, primaries are the glory of the Likud Party.” Tally Gotliv / Flash90, Yonatan Sindel

She later argued that the prime minister cannot cancel the primaries. “This is not the prime minister’s decision, we are not a one-man party. I am not a partner to that, we have an excellent leader and an excellent party.” She emphasized that “Netanyahu is not going anywhere, he is with us as much as he can.”

Gotliv attacked the party of Opposition Leader Yair Lapid: “If you want to see what happens when there are no primaries, just look at what is happening in the ‘Yesh Atid’ party. We are a democratic party, we do not bow our heads to the chairman.” She added that “the right will remain in power despite the plot to weaken, suppress, and stir up a spirit of despondency on the right. Likud will be in power, and the only way it will be in power is through primaries.”

Later in the interview, Gotliv and interviewer Sivan Cohen sparred over events that took place during the war, including the Bild affair and the MK’s statements about senior security and prosecution officials. Gotliv argued that the publication of the document in the German newspaper was of great public importance because, לדבריה, it exposed Hamas’s positions on a hostage deal and disproved claims made against the prime minister. She also claimed that the document was in the hands of security officials and should have reached the political leadership.

She then criticized the decision by law enforcement officials to view the publication of the document as harming state security, and directed personal criticism at State Attorney Amit Aisman. “The fact that Amit Aisman says that exposing the document is a blow to state security, I did not know that cutting off the glorification of the enemy is harming state security,” she said.

Cohen was stunned: “I am letting you speak and I am exploding inside. As someone who established the Hostages Headquarters, listen, what you just said is a disgrace and a shame. Any connection between reality and what you are saying is a farce. The Bild did not hurt the hostages? I was in meetings.” Gotliv replied: “In the German Bild document it says, do not release hostages, do not carry out hostage deals. Why was that not exposed to the people of Israel? In the German Bild there was a publication that led and exposed the truth, that is Hamas’s position and that is the strategy.”

“Under a state commission of inquiry we will not know the truth”

Cohen later confronted Gotliv with her previous claims: “You are claiming that elements in the security establishment betrayed us and enabled October 7. Shin Bet chief Zini, whom Netanyahu appointed, said openly that there was no betrayal.” After Gotliv’s tone rose, Cohen tried to calm the atmosphere: “Tally, don’t get angry, don’t get angry, let’s speak nicely.” Gotliv responded sharply: “I will not speak nicely to you because you are weakening this nation. You do not have a shred of courage to look reality in the face. The top of the Shin Bet and the top of the IDF did not update the prime minister about the warning signs for war, their excuse three years later is that they were afraid of miscalculation. What does that mean? The top of the Shin Bet is responsible for harming the regime. I do not see a top in front of my eyes, it does not matter to me how distinguished or great a person is.”

Regarding a commission of inquiry, the MK said that “under a state commission of inquiry we will not know the truth. The people can stand at the head of the committee. We want a national commission of inquiry.”

“I want people from the army, people up to the rank of lieutenant colonel who were in the field, I want noncommissioned officers in Unit 8200, the materials that warned, what happened and what was done to them, I do not want a Supreme Court justice like Yitzhak Amit who said there is no such thing as refusal, I want someone to investigate and tell me how the Shin Bet did not prevent refusal and calls for disobedience like Brothers in Arms,” she explained. Gotliv claimed that there was betrayal in the security establishment on October 7.

On the issue of immunity later in the interview, when asked why Gotliv does not waive her immunity and confront the facts, she replied that she cannot reveal all the information she has because materials connected to the affair are classified. “You know why I cannot bring everything? Who signed the secrecy order? Israel Katz. All the materials are prohibited from publication, you will never know this,” she said.

The clash between the two intensified when Gotliv rejected the claims against her and accused Cohen of belittling her. “I do not need compliments from you. Do not diminish me, you are really on the verge of misogyny that does not suit you,” she said.

According to her, immunity is meant to allow Knesset members to carry out their duties without fear of legal proceedings, and not to harm private individuals or for improper purposes. She also claimed that she was not the one who initially raised suspicions in the affair, and added: “The prime minister was the one who suspected Shikma Bressler’s partner.”