Likud to grant reserved slots on party list to Sa’ar, Israel Katz, Haim Katz, on top of 8 spots already granted to PM for chosen candidates

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud announces that the party’s secretariat will be asked to approve three additional reserved slots on the party’s electoral list, in addition to the eight reserved slots already granted to the prime minister for candidates of his choosing.

The three additional slots will be reserved for Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar, Defense Minister Israel Katz, and Likud Central Committee Chair Haim Katz, the announcement says.

Justifying the decision — which was announced just after 1 a.m. on Tuesday and will be brought to the secretariat for approval later in the day — the Likud announcement notes that Sa’ar had been guaranteed a reserved slot under the terms of the merger between his New Hope party and Likud.

The party says Israel Katz will receive a reserved spot on the list “to allow him to deal with security needs and not engage in politics at this time,” and that Haim Katz will receive a reserved spot due to his post as the chair of the Likud Central Committee.

It is unclear from the statement, though, why the three were not simply allocated three of the eight reserved spots already granted to Netanyahu.

The decision, if approved, would give Netanyahu control over 11 of the top 30 spots on the Likud list, ahead of the October 27 election.

The announcement comes hours after Netanyahu’s first pick for his eight reserved slots, entrepreneur Oren Dobronsky, caused an uproar after it was discovered that he had called US President Donald Trump a “morally corrupt piece of shit” less than two months ago.