Likud Reserves Knesset Slots for Key Ministers and Adds Tech Entrepreneur Oren Dovronsky

In a late-night announcement on Monday, the Likud party declared that alongside reserving a slot for the Prime Minister, it will also reserve Knesset list positions for Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar, Defense Minister Israel Katz, and party center chairman Haim Katz. This decision follows a ruling by the party's tribunal last week mandating a reserved spot for the Defense Minister to allow him to focus on security matters rather than politics during this period. Sa'ar's placement is part of a unity agreement with his party, while Haim Katz's reservation is due to his role as party center chairman.

Earlier on Monday, Likud announced its first reserved candidate for the upcoming Knesset elections: entrepreneur and businessman Oren Dovronsky, a co-founder of the high-tech company Hotbar and a veteran of Silicon Valley. The party described Dovronsky as a right-wing figure who will join the "Likud team" and is expected to lead Israel's artificial intelligence sector across various fields including education, medicine, and the economy after the elections.

Shortly after the announcement, Dovronsky sparked controversy by criticizing U.S. President Donald Trump on social media, calling him a "morally corrupt person" for excluding Israel from the Iran nuclear deal negotiations. He questioned the morality of not inviting a close ally like Israel to the negotiation table or sharing the agreement's text with them. Following the backlash, Dovronsky issued a public apology, praising Trump as Israel's greatest friend in the White House and expressing regret for his earlier remarks, which he said were made without full knowledge of the facts.