Now that a plea deal between former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the State Attorney's Office is no longer on the table, the talk around Netanyahu has again returned to the issue of the Likud holding early primaries to elect a party leader.
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The chairman of the Likud Central Committee, MK Haim Katz, however, told Israel Hayom that no one had discussed the prospect with him. According to Katz, party primaries will only be held if the government falls or half a year before the Knesset disperses.
Netanyahu essentially wanted to hold primaries several months ago, after losing the government in the national election, to re-establish his status as party leader but was met with resistance from Haim Katz and as well as chairman of the Likud Secretariat, MK Israel Katz.
Indeed – after Netanyahu's standing was somewhat undermined these past two weeks following reports that he would resign from political life – aides in Netanyahu's circle want to convene primaries to reassert his status atop the party and are aiming for the end of this year as a possible timeframe.
Meanwhile, the detractors within the party argue there is no point in holding primaries because a general election is not on the horizon. They also note Likud's more than NIS 50 million ($15.691 million) budget deficit, and that a primary election would cost NIS 10 million ($3.1 million).
It should be noted that only MK Yuli Edelstein has declared he will run against Netanyahu in primary elections. MKs Israel Katz, Nir Barkat, Miri Regev, Amir Ohana, and Tzahi Hanegbi have all said they will only run for the Likud chairmanship if Netanyahu resigns as party leader.
As for the plea deal, Netanyahu last week aired a video in which he lambasted the State Attorney's Office and said he would not agree to a moral turpitude clause.
"The entire public sees what is happening in court and how the investigation against me was conducted. It is enough to close the cases against me right now, but it has not happened yet. In recent days, false allegations have been made in the media about things I allegedly agreed to, such as the claim I agreed to admit to moral turpitude. This is not correct," he said.
As for Israeli citizens, Netanyahu is still the person they believe is most suited to lead a government.
According to an Israel Hayom poll conducted two weeks ago by the Maagar Mochot research institute, Likud would increase its number of seats to 34 under Netanyahu, but would receive significantly fewer mandates and essentially fall behind Yesh Atid if it is headed by Edelstein or Israel Katz.
The results of the poll also indicated that right now, the public prefers one candidate to replace Netanyahu as leader of the Opposition – MK Nir Barkat. If Barkat is elected to lead Likud, it would result in fewer mandates, but not by much.
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