Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is racing to finalize Likud’s Knesset slate before Tuesday night’s filing deadline, as internal pressure mounts over his remaining appointments and uncertainty persists over possible last-minute recruits and political alliances.
Likud Secretariat members were informed Saturday night that Netanyahu wants to convene the body Tuesday, just hours before the 10 p.m. deadline for submitting candidate lists for the 26th Knesset. The meeting is expected to approve any remaining candidates Netanyahu chooses to add to the slate.
The timing has heightened tensions inside Likud. Ministers, lawmakers, activists and local party officials are pressing Netanyahu not to make additional appointments unless they offer a clear electoral advantage, with some candidates already pushed significantly lower on the list following the party’s primaries.
Netanyahu has so far secured places for Defense Minister Israel Katz and Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar near the top of the slate, as well as for Likud Central Committee chairman Haim Katz and businessman Oren Dobronsky. Several additional places remain available for potential recruits or political deals before the deadline.
One name recently floated is Dr. Keren Assayag, a lecturer and breast cancer researcher who recently met Netanyahu. After initially expressing reservations about entering politics, party figures now believe she may be willing to join Likud, though it remains unclear whether she would receive a realistic position on the slate or simply endorse the party publicly.
Netanyahu has also sought to use the remaining flexibility to encourage broader cooperation on the right. He had hoped to bring retired Brig. Gen. Ofer Winter into an alliance involving Bezalel Smotrich’s Religious Zionism and Moshe Feiglin’s Identity party, which have already joined forces.
Ofer Winter
(Photo: Shalev Shalom)
Winter, however, has repeatedly rejected merger proposals and, according to several reports, also turned down offers of reserved places on the Likud slate. If those efforts fail, Netanyahu is expected to unveil new candidates instead, a move that could reignite tensions inside a party still unsettled by its contentious primaries.
The dispute is particularly sensitive because reserved appointments can push candidates elected in the primaries into significantly lower positions. Some who initially finished near the start of the second group of 10 candidates have already fallen into the third after reserved places were inserted.
That has prompted lawmakers and ministers to mobilize activists, branch chiefs and local officials in an effort to persuade Netanyahu not to use every appointment available to him. Netanyahu is aware of the pressure, but the decision to convene the Secretariat indicates he intends to keep all options open until the final hours.
The scramble inside Likud is part of a broader rush across Israel’s political system as parties prepare their final election slates.
Yair Lapid, Gadi Eisenkot, Avigdor Lieberman, Naftali Bennett and Yair Golan
(Photo: Shalev Shalom, Yair Sagi, Yuval Chen, Alex Kolomoisky)
Naftali Bennett is expected to present the list of his Beyachad alliance Sunday night while continuing efforts to recruit Chili Tropper. The emerging slate, which includes figures from Yesh Atid, currently contains more candidates than polling suggests will win seats.
Yisrael Beytenu leader Avigdor Lieberman is also expected to unveil his party’s list Sunday. The party has been polling at around 10 seats, while Lieberman has recruited several new candidates in recent weeks, particularly figures associated with liberal religious Zionism and active military reservists.
Gadi Eisenkot, whose Yashar! party has emerged in polls as Netanyahu’s leading challenger, is due to present his slate Monday. “I’m talking to everyone,” Eisenkot said over the weekend. “We’re preparing more surprises for the next three or four days.”
A possible alliance between Eisenkot and Bennett also remains in play. Neither has confirmed that talks are advancing, but both stopped short of ruling out such a move when questioned at a Ynet and Yedioth Ahronoth conference last week.
Tropper remains another potential piece in the final round of maneuvering, with the possibility that his Zionist Home-Reservists faction could join either Bennett or Eisenkot before Tuesday night’s deadline.