Feiglin quits Likud primaries
(VIDEO) Head of party's 'Jewish Leadership' faction, who won 12 percent of votes in Likud chairmanship elections, says he will quit primaries to select party's Knesset list immediately after his name is cleared
Feiglin, who won 12 percent of the votes in the party's chairmanship elections, was "blacklisted" by Benjamin Netanyahu immediately after he was elected as Likud chairman. Netanyahu declared that his first mission as chairman would be to remove radical members and members convicted of criminal offenses from the Likud list.
Moshe Feiglin announces decision to quit Likud primaries (Footage: Yaron Brenner)
In the press conference, Feiglin said that "I will quit the primaries to select the party's Knesset list immediately after I receive a letter from the chairman of the Likud's election committee stating that my name is cleared."
He noted that his "Jewish Leadership" faction would vote in favor of the proposed amendment to bar members convicted of disgraceful criminal offences from the Likud list.
'Want to enter Knesset as head of Likud'
"All the remarks as if I 'surrendered' to Netanyahu or was part of the deal are nonsense. I will always continue building an alternative and competing for the movement's leadership at any opportunity," Feiglin stressed.
"It is no secret that I am a lot less determined about entering the Knesset. I want to enter the Knesset as head of the movement," he said.
Although Netanyahu marked the removal of Feiglin as his first objective immediately after his election as chairman, he later made it clear that his remarks were directed at members with criminal offenses and not at members with certain ideological views.
At the end of the day, Netanyahu wanted to score his first achievement among potential voters, portraying himself as the one who removed Feiglin from the list.
Behind closed doors, however, the parties reached a quiet understanding that Feiglin would quit the primaries, and in return it would be made clear that the amendment to the party's constitution would not prevent him from running in the primaries or competing for the role of the party's chairman in the future.
