From the Liveblog of
Tuesday, August 11, 2026
Likud secretariat approves reserved spots for Israel Katz and Sa’ar, freezes vote on Haim Katz’s spot
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleSam Sokol is a former political correspondent at The Times of Israel. He was previously a reporter for the Jerusalem Post, Jewish Telegraphic Agency and Haaretz. He is the author of "Putin’s Hybrid War and the Jews"
The Likud secretariat approves Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s decision, announced overnight, to grant guaranteed spots on the party’s electoral list to Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar and Defense Minister Israel Katz ahead of the primary later this month.
However, following a ruling by an internal Likud court, the secretariat freezes a vote on giving a guaranteed spot to Likud Central Committee chair Haim Katz, whom the tribunal noted is running in the party’s August 17 primary, creating a conflict of interest.
Israel Katz and Sa’ar will be given reserved placements separate from the eight slots set aside for candidates of Netanyahu’s choosing, the Likud announcement said, meaning that in total, 10 of the first 29 spaces on the ruling party’s slate will go to hand-picked candidates rather than to those elected by the party’s roughly 140,000 members at the upcoming August 17 primary.
According to the Kan public broadcaster, Netanyahu also approved shortening the requirements for length of party membership in order to allow Ze’ev Elkin, a member of Sa’ar’s New Hope party, which is merging with Likud, and former Otzma Yehudit MK Almog Cohen to run in the primary.
The Times of Israel Community.