Infighting in Likud: Party to expel 1,000 members, investigate 7,000
3 Min Read
The Times of "Israel" says the Likud party will be expelling and probing thousands of members amid an intensifying power struggle within the party between leader Benjamin Netanyahu and the New Likudniks.
-
Then-Israeli occupation Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and then-Finance Minister Israel Katz attend the swearing-in of the new occupation government at the Knesset in occupied Al-Quds on June 13, 2021
A Times of "Israel" report said an internal court of the Israeli occupation's Likud party on Wednesday took the decision to expel around 1,000 members and probe 7,000 others over New Likudniks affiliation, as infighting grows in the party.
Reportedly, the court had overwhelming evidence to remove the 1,000. However, it ruled against a demand to expel the New Likudniks group, saying they would be individually probed.
The New Likudniks group wants to restore the old liberal values of the Likud party. Opponents accuse the group of being "leftist infiltrators," wanting to bring down the party from within.
The ruling comes as party leader, former occupation Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, is under fire for "mounting dissent" over the manner in which he lost power in March.
Netanyahu challenged
Netanyahu is also facing a challenge over his leadership of the party, as his opponents are rising among the ranks amid the decreasing popularity of the former PM.
Netanyahu argued, using an old Facebook post attached to an interview in which New Likudnik members admitted to supporting the "left-wing" Meretz party, that the group was "radical leftists acting as a Trojan horse to destroy Likud from within."
"While most Likud members are struggling against this movement, there are some who prefer to use them for votes in the primaries at the expense of the state and the party," Netanyahu wrote, in a nod to former Finance Minister Israel Katz.
"I expected all Likud members, including the party leaders, to use all their power to work to expel them from the movement. Everyone did this except for Israel Katz, who has worked in the opposite direction," the former Prime Minister asserted.
Katz is expected to challenge Netanyahu over leadership of the party during the preliminary elections, although he is yet to officially announce he was running.
The former finance minister publicly criticized Netanyahu on multiple occasions, accusing him of dragging the Likud into the opposition instead of allowing someone else to lead the party and keep it in power.
Who will succeed Netanyahu?
The New Likudniks, which emerged following mass protests over the living situation, say they want to "push the economic interests of the middle class" and the "preservation of liberal democracy” from within the party. The faction has been receiving growing support over the past period.
A Channel 12 poll said former Mossad chief Yossi Cohen was Likud's favorite candidate as a successor to Netanyahu if the latter steps down from politics. Cohen has not officially entered the political arena so far.
Respondents were asked about the candidate they were most likely to elect if Netanyahu were to step down from politics, and 27% said they would elect Cohen. The survey asked respondents about other candidates: Knesset Member Nir Barkat (16%), the Israeli occupation's envoy to the UN Gilad Erdan (8%), Israel Katz (5%), and Yuli Edelstein (5%).
