A senior Likud minister on Wednesday accused former party official Gideon Sa'ar of trying to "instigate a putsch in the Likud," and unseat Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as the party's chairman.
The accusation followed an Israel Hayom exclusive, revealing that Netanyahu had learned that a former senior Likud minister was behind a political scheme designed to keep him from forming the next coalition in the event general elections are held in early 2019 instead of in November, as planned.
Fingers were immediately pointed at Sa'ar, who resigned as interior minister in 2014 and said he was retiring from politics, only to announce a comeback in late 2017.
According to the Likud official, "Sa'ar wanted to form a separate faction within the Likud in the Knesset and include MKs loyal to him, so when the time came, they would prevent Netanyahu from forming the next government."
Sa'ar on Wednesday denied that he was behind any such ploy, tweeting, "In general, I don't respond to bizarre claims, especially when no one is willing to stand up and say it out loud. But since my name is being bandied about, I am declaring as clearly as possible: there is no truth to the reports. They are completely ridiculous.
"I'm disturbed by the idea that someone is whispering this kind of nonsense in the prime minister's ear. We will eagerly await any shred of evidence that proves this absurd conspiracy theory," Sa'ar stated.
But the senior Likud official told Israel Hayom that Sa'ar's plan "is well known among Likud members. He has a list of candidates, and there are candidates in nearly every region ready to run with him.
"Netanyahu's was right to be concerned because, in a critical moment, he would have found that he was not the prime minister, seeing how the president can task any MK with forming the government according to his discretion and his belief of whether this MK will be successful [in forming a coalition]. After all, he [the president] doesn't have to give a reason for his decision or answer to the High Court of Justice for it," he said.
While Netanyahu himself refrained from naming Sa'ar as the driving force behind this scheme, he said Wednesday that "a former minister in the Likud is talking to individuals in the coalition and is engaged in subversive activities."
The unnamed official and his cohorts "want me to win a landslide victory for Likud in the next elections and then they plan to make sure I won't be the prime minister – going against the will of Likud voters, against the will of the public and against democracy," he said.
"I travel this country and I see the tremendous support we get, that I and my wife get. In all my days in politics, I have never seen such support, which is why any such move was doomed to fail – the public won't let that happen."
According to the prime minister, the foiled plot "revealed a legal loophole and we will explore what can be done about it."
Coalition Chairman MK David Amsalem said Wednesday that he plans to present the Knesset with an amendment to Basic Law: The Government, by which the president will have to task the head of the party that won the elections with forming the government.
The current language of the law "allows the president far too much discretion on the matter," he said.
"The idea that a [winning] party head can be sidelined and someone else appointed after an election is a kind of revolt. The president has the constitutional authority to exercise common sense, not engage in manipulations," Amsalem said.
He further said he plans to expedite the legislative process for the amendment, so it would be able to come into force before early elections are called, if they are called.
Tourism Minister Yariv Levin backed the initiative, saying, "Now that we've learned that there's a legal loophole we will make sure to amend it so that the law reflects the legislator's true intention."
Opposition Leader Tzipi Livni (Zionist Union) criticized Netanyahu, saying, "This is a prime minister who is busy telling everyone that he is the victim of every system in Israel and therefore they must be questioned, vilified and eliminated."
