Netanyahu’s opposition within the Likud
While Likud leaders don’t dispute Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s bloc policy, a rebellious group within the party has launched a broad campaign against the alliance with the right-ultra-Orthodox parties.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has thus far succeeded in overcoming any sign of subversion of his leadership of the Likud, and even maintains exclusive control over policymaking and management of the coalition negotiations. Even the man considered his prominent rival within the Likud, Knesset member Gideon Saar — the only one to announce that he would run against Netanyahu in the next internal election — declared Oct. 6 that until this election takes place Netanyahu is the leader of the Likud. And in his words, “No one is denying the prime minister’s role as chairman of the Likud. When there is a race for leadership of the party — as the prime minister himself initiated a few days ago — I will run.”
Netanyahu’s policy in coalition negotiations, according to which the Likud will stick with the right-ultra-Orthodox bloc for the coalition (a bloc of 55 mandates), is at this stage one of the biggest obstacles preventing the formation of a unity government with the Blue and White party. The two parties, Likud and Blue and White, share a similar world view on many issues. The common assumption is that without the Likud’s link with the ultra-Orthodox and the extreme right, the road to unity would be easy. On the other hand, Blue and White understands that if a coalition is established with the entire bloc it would be a minority within it.
