Social protest unnerves Likud
Party members agitated by growing social unrest, say Likud center must convene in show of support for Netanyahu
The growing demand for social change is making Likud party members nervous: Ynet learned Thursday that prominent party members are pushing for an urgent Likud center session to discuss the growing protest, as well as to devise ways to bolster Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's public status.
"There are social problems and there is room for improvement, but the protest has become political and we need to support Bibi. The situations demands rectifying, but what's happing now is problematic," Shuki Ohana, a Safed councilman and head of the Likud Galilee Branches forum, told Ynet.
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Ohana stressed that the convention initiative was not coordinated with the prime minister, and that it will not be used to bash Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz or to set his possible replacement in motion.
Despite enjoying Netanyahu's support – lent in spite of his opposition to several of the prime minister's solutions to the housing crisis – Steinitz has ruffled many Likud feathers recently.
It remains unclear whether members of the Likud center will demand Steinitz's ousting, but a senior center member told Ynet that "it won't be a Steinitz-friendly atmosphere."
Ohana, however, was adamant: "We don't know how the meeting will go. We might address (Steinitz), but that's not the goal here. We want to reinforce Bibi against what is beginning to look like a political onslaught."
Members of the Likud center have now begun collecting the necessary signatures to call a meeting within 10 days.
MK Moshe Kahlon, who serves as the center's chairman, voiced his support for the move, but according to the Likud Codex, Netanyahu has the ability to torpedo – or at least postpone – such a meeting.
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