Today, an important mission has been entrusted to the many Likud members who will make their way to the Tel Aviv Fairgrounds to vote for the 12 candidates they see as most fit to represent the party in the 21st Knesset. They need to think carefully which names they will mark off of their ballots and they mustn't obey the lists that political players present them with. Every member must exercise his or her own judgment.
The most important issues that guide voters are how the various candidates have performed in the cabinet and Knesset for the past four years and whether their conduct has embarrassed – not to say disgraced – not only the Likud but the Knesset as a whole. As one who has covered the work of Knesset members throughout the 20th Knesset, I can testify that there were plenty of MKs – not only from Likud – who failed to perform their duties faithfully. Some were incapable of doing so while others were unmotivated to promote issues or perform their duties as elected officials.
On the other hand, there were MKs and ministers who demonstrated devotion, interest, assiduity, and creative thinking. Because there appears to be little doubt that Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan, Tourism Minster Yariv Levin, Jerusalem Affairs and Heritage Minister Zeev Elkin, Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz, Regional Cooperation Minister Tzachi Hanegbi, Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz, Science and Technology Minister Ofir Akunis, and Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein will be re-elected, I'd like to discuss the good Likud MKs who deserve to be supported and appreciated for their work on behalf of the public.
First of all, chairman of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee Avi Dichter (formerly head of the Shin Bet security agency), who worked hard as head of the most important committee in the Knesset and its subcommittees. His crowning achievement was passing the nation-state law. Chairman of the Knesset Internal Affairs Committee MK Yoav Kisch, who made major contributions to his party in every role he filled in the Knesset; MK Amir Ohana, who headed the special committee that prepared the nation-state law for final approval – often caught between his supporters in the LGBTQ community and his party's position; MK Anat Berko, who devoted herself to every issue on which she worked; MK Nurit Koren, who made a point of working to right the historic wrongs committed against immigrants from Yemen in the 1950s; and MK Yehuda Glick, whose magnetic personality, good temper, and work in the Knesset are enough to allow him to keep representing the Likud, despite the fact that he didn't always follow the instructions of the coalition chairman – are also all worthy of praise.
