{"id":539898,"date":"2026-07-13T21:53:16","date_gmt":"2026-07-13T21:53:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/539898\/"},"modified":"2026-07-13T21:53:16","modified_gmt":"2026-07-13T21:53:16","slug":"six-of-top-20-likud-okays-plan-to-give-netanyahu-more-power-over-partys-electoral-slate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/539898\/","title":{"rendered":"Six of top 20: Likud okays plan to give Netanyahu more power over party\u2019s electoral slate"},"content":{"rendered":"

Likud\u2019s Constitution Committee on Monday approved a plan to grant Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu the power to select eight candidates on the party\u2019s slate, including three in the top 10 and six in the top 20, in a compromise with committee chairman Haim Katz, among the premier\u2019s efforts to increase his own influence over the upcoming party primaries.<\/p>\n

The compromise would reserve spots 3, 5, 9, 11, 15, 18, 26, and 31 on the party\u2019s Knesset list for Netanyahu\u2019s handpicked candidates, after the premier previously insisted that at least 10 spots be reserved for contenders of his choice.<\/p>\n

The deal significantly increased Netanyahu\u2019s power over the Likud slate. During the party\u2019s last round of primaries in 2022, Netanyahu was allowed to handpick only three candidates among the first 30 spots on the list, with the highest being the 14th.<\/p>\n

Polls have projected that Likud\u2019s number of seats after the elections, on October 27, will be in the low to mid-20s, out of the Knesset\u2019s total 120.<\/p>\n

The compromise is not yet official and the Likud Central Committee will vote on whether to approve the plan Thursday, Hebrew outlets reported.<\/p>\n

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The primaries, scheduled for August 17, have sparked friction within the party as veteran lawmaker David Bitan pushed back against Netanyahu\u2019s bid for greater influence.<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a>
\n\t\tMK David Bitan leads Economic Committee meeting at the Knesset in Jerusalem, on May 11, 2026. (Yonatan Sindel\/Flash90)<\/p>\n

Bitan, one of the only Likud politicians who has publicly opposed Netanyahu\u2019s demands, got into a brief spat with the premier on Monday in Jerusalem.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re talking about reserved [slots], but everything is hazy. We haven\u2019t seen who they want to reserve a spot for and what value they bring to Likud,\u201d Bitan said, according to Ynet.<\/p>\n

\u201cBitan, you\u2019re welcome to run and we\u2019ll see how many seats you bring,\u201d Netanyahu reportedly shot back.<\/p>\n

Last month, the premier threatened to scrap the primaries and instead hold an internal selection committee choose the party\u2019s slate if he was not granted the power to choose 10 candidates within the first 35 spots, but then recanted amid opposition from senior party members.<\/p>\n

Likud is one of the only major parties, and the largest, to hold primaries for its slate.<\/p>\n

On Sunday, the Knesset legal adviser announced the parliament will dissolve on July 17, and that elections will be held on October 27, the latest date permitted by law.<\/p>\n


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\t\t\tAlready a member? Sign in to stop seeing this<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Likud\u2019s Constitution Committee on Monday approved a plan to grant Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu the power to select…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":539899,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[147752,49,204203,97494,42,14406,21141,245952,233138,43,245951,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-539898","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-2026-israeli-elections","tag-benjamin-netanyahu","tag-david-bitan","tag-haim-katz","tag-headlines","tag-knesset","tag-likud","tag-likud-central-committee","tag-likud-primaries","tag-news","tag-party-primaries","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/539898","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=539898"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/539898\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/539899"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=539898"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=539898"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=539898"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}