Likud Constitution Committee chairman Haim Katz has issued a summons for a committee meeting this coming Tuesday at 17:00, with the agenda set to determine the party's primary election method and regulations, according to journalist Moran Azulay. The move is aimed at presenting Prime Minister Netanyahu with a fait accompli on holding primaries, amid internal Likud tensions over efforts to bypass them via an arranging committee.
Katz's summons represents a direct institutional challenge to Prime Minister Netanyahu's authority over Likud's candidate selection process. As The Zioneer reported on Tuesday and Wednesday, senior Likud figures have been publicly pushing for an arranging committee that would bypass primaries and allow Netanyahu to hand-pick the Knesset list, a proposal Katz told party members—via this summons—he intends to block. The Constitution Committee controls the party's internal electoral rules, meaning Tuesday's meeting could produce binding regulations for a primary vote before Netanyahu's expected decision on an alternative mechanism. The summons comes a day after a senior Likud figure said on Wednesday that Netanyahu is "serious" about the arranging committee and will decide in the coming days—setting up a confrontation between the party chairman and the internal committee structure.
2 developments
- StrongLikud Constitution Committee to convene Thursday without Netanyahu, then with him, following Bitan petition
- DevelopingLikud Constitution Committee to meet Sunday to discuss primaries and reserved slots
- DevelopingHaim Katz denies promoting arranging committee, says primaries to be decided by Likud members Tuesday
- DevelopingHaim Katz refuses to cancel Likud committee meeting as members boycott, sparking coup fears
Source and signal
- Open-source intake