Benjamin Netanyahu Presents: 'Reserve and Go'

My heart goes out to the dozens of Likud primary candidates who have been giving their all in recent weeks in the race for the primaries to be held this coming Monday. A political bloodbath is not just a metaphor for what awaits the candidates in the battle shaking the ruling party. For many of them, it is a life-or-death struggle.

Anyone following the schedule of ministers, deputy ministers, and MKs discovers how deeply they are immersed in these internal elections. They were promised a democratic campaign. Reports that Netanyahu intended to cancel the primaries or change the rules of the game due to security constraints were denied. "This is the last democratic party," they said. But in the dead of night, right under the noses of the candidates, it turned out that Netanyahu is carrying out a "targeted elimination" of the primaries, turning the Likud's democratic event into a ridiculous farce.

At 1:13 AM, the Likud spokesperson announced that Netanyahu had decided to reserve spots for Defense Minister Israel Katz and Likud Central Committee Chairman Haim Katz. The Katz alliance receives a privilege from the party chairman. No primaries. Reserve and go. The reservation for the Defense Minister will be within the framework of an additional quota demanded by Netanyahu, while the reservation for Haim Katz will be within the framework of the reservations Netanyahu has already received. Bottom line: Netanyahu secured 10 reserved spots on the list up to the 30th position (including Netanyahu, Katz, and eight other personal appointments).

Likud candidates who have been running their campaigns for months can only watch the Knesset moving away from them in giant strides. If it were possible to publish everything that senior Likud members think about Netanyahu's cynical move, the Likud chairman would remain in the minority. But most of them are cowards and are saving their ammunition for the moment when Netanyahu is no longer here.

This is a political scheme that, beyond the question of legality, raises serious ethical and moral concerns. The reservation for Defense Minister Katz was secretly concocted a week ago between Netanyahu and the Likud Court (ostensibly "for security reasons"). Despite this, Katz continued to campaign as if he were running on equal footing, even publishing two ridiculous but catchy videos, such as "A right-wing Defense Minister — with a graceful smile."

But the political scheme of the two Katzes is tainted by a clear conflict of interest: to approve the reservation, Netanyahu needs to pass the decision through the Likud Secretariat, which is headed by... Israel Katz himself. And to approve personal appointments, the approval of the Likud Central Committee is needed, which is headed by... Haim Katz. Quite a few people in Likud are left in shock and wonder: what is Netanyahu's next deal? Reserving a spot for MK Eti Atiya to save her from the fear of the primaries? A lesson in democracy at its finest.

And yet, there was one party member who dared to speak out publicly against Netanyahu and the Central Committee Chairman: MK David Bitan. He argued all along that the reservations Netanyahu demands make the primaries redundant and essentially allow him to determine the list through an "arranging committee." "If Likud members approve this proposal, in practice it will be an arranging committee," Bitan said. Guess what? The smear machine started working overtime, this time against Bitan.

The nerves of the Likud candidates are stretched to the limit. Petitions to the Likud Court and the Supreme Court threaten to shut down the Likud's democratic celebration. It may be that this chaos ultimately serves Netanyahu. After all, from the first moment, he dreamed of an arranging committee to determine the Likud list alone. No one will be surprised if this is the goal on the way to the final destination: a one-man party.