Towards the establishment of the government: Benjamin Netanyahu is preparing to fend off pressure from his friends in the Likud faction – and is working to repeal a law passed by the previous coalition led by Bennett and Lapid.
According to the law passed in July 2021, any 4 Knesset members can split from a faction. In this way, Bennett and Lapid hoped to be able to bring 4 Knesset members from the Likud to them, which of course did not happen.
According to a report by Dafna Lial, Netanyahu is now interested – even before the swearing in of the government – to cancel the law and return the situation to its original state, where only a third of a faction can join together to split.
In doing so, Netanyahu is trying to prevent extortion in the process of distributing cases within his party. Even if he fails to pass it, Netanyahu intends to pass the law as soon as possible, in order to avoid the possibility that the Likud faction will split, and thus they will be able to put pressure on him during the term as well.
In the meantime, in the Likud’s WhatsApp group, the spirits were stirred this evening: Knesset members Tali Gottlieb and David Bitan came out against Tzachi Braverman and Ikki Cohen, Netanyahu’s closest people.
“My friends in the faction” wrote the new MK. “Tzachi Braverman and Ikki Cohen, who are supposed to be Netanyahu’s confidants, came to my office before my opening speech and asked me to be stately and soft. I answered them that there is no such chance.
“You read that right.
“I thought to Tomi that it would stay in my nest forever. But Ben Caspit called to get my response after the conversation was cut off, which is known only to me and these two officials.”
Gottlieb added and wrote: “I did not know that again in Netanyahu’s environment there is a direct leak no less than a direct financial whitewash. And I’m writing it down here, because tomorrow it turns out that it will be written in the column of Ben Caspit, who learned about this from a source close to Netanyahu.”
She emphasized: “If it seems to someone that I am a plaything, think again. Unbelievable”.
David Bitan, who is the opposition within the Likud to Netanyahu, responded: “You are right. shame”.
However, Gottlieb’s message was quickly deleted from the group by faction manager Aliza Berashi – and Gottlieb protested: “I posted here and not on Facebook because of the respect of the faction. My message is related to the work of the faction and serves as an important warning against potential from people who are supposed to be trusted. The deletion of the message is outrageous and constitutes gagging that should not be recognized in this group.”