Likud court president Michael Kleiner revealed Tuesday that Defense Minister Israel Katz's reserved Knesset slot was approved a week ago. According to Kleiner, Katz already knew he was secured on the list when he left a cabinet meeting to attend the wedding of a Likud vote contractor and receive a blessing from Rabbi Yashiahu Pinto, fueling the internal controversy over his priorities.
Likud court president Michael Kleiner revealed Tuesday morning that Defense Minister Israel Katz's reserved slot on the party's Knesset list had been finalized a week earlier, and that Katz was aware of it before he left a security cabinet meeting on Friday to attend a wedding. According to Kleiner, the reserved slot was deliberately kept quiet to allow Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to announce a different reserved slot first. The revelation adds a new dimension to the internal party storm over reserved slots and Katz's conduct, as his departure from the cabinet discussion was not a political necessity but a choice made with full knowledge of his safe position.
The Zioneer reported at 01:17 Jerusalem early Tuesday that Netanyahu had expanded the number of his reserved slots on the Likud list to ten, with Katz expected to be placed in the top six. The overnight announcement sparked broad internal unrest, with MK Tali Gotliv calling it 'disgraceful.' At the same hour, we reported that Katz's slot took the party by surprise, as he had been actively running his primary campaign until the previous day. On Friday, as The Zioneer reported, Katz left a security cabinet meeting to attend the wedding of the son of Rabbi Yashiahu Pinto, an absence that drew sharp criticism from political rivals and within Likud.
The battle over reserved slots has been brewing for weeks. As The Zioneer reported in June, Netanyahu threatened to leave the party unless granted 10 reserved slots, and internal infighting intensified. In early August, the Likud court ruled that sitting MKs seeking district slots must resign immediately, throwing the faction into turmoil. The latest round of reserved slots—including for Katz, Haim Katz, and Gideon Sa'ar—was announced late Monday, with the Likud secretariat still expected to formally vote on their approval.
Katz's office has not yet commented on Kleiner's revelation, and questions remain about whether the Likud secretariat will ratify the slots given the mounting internal backlash. The timing of Katz's departure from the cabinet meeting, and the knowledge that he was already secured on the list, is likely to intensify the controversy as the party prepares for primaries.
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