Likud votes on Netanyahu bid to expand control over party slate

By Ariela Karmel

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27 July 2026, 11:23 am

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Ariela Karmel is a political correspondent at The Times of Israel. She previously reported for Calcalist and Haaretz. She holds an MA in Middle Eastern and African History from Tel Aviv University and a BA in Political Science from the University of British Columbia.

MK David Bitan leads an Economic Committee meeting at the Knesset in Jerusalem, on May 11, 2026 (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Likud’s roughly 4,500-member Central Committee is voting today on a proposal to significantly expand Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s control over the party’s Knesset slate, granting him eight reserved slots in the top 29 places on the list ahead of the October 27 election.

If approved, the proposal would give Netanyahu unprecedented influence over more than a third of the party’s realistic slate, with Likud currently polling at 21-23 seats.

The plan has sparked rare public dissent within Likud, with critics arguing it would push incumbent lawmakers down the list in favor of Netanyahu’s handpicked candidates.

In a video this morning, MK David Bitan, the proposal’s most outspoken opponent, urges Central Committee members to reject it, accusing Likud Constitution Committee chairman and minister Haim Katz of “building a faction within a faction” and suggesting that Katz had backed the premier’s proposal, first approved by his committee, in exchange for a reserved slot for himself or an ally.

Bitan has previously said several of the slots are expected to go to non-Likud lawmakers, including Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar, whose New Hope faction merged with Likud last year. Media reports have also suggested New Hope MKs Ze’ev Elkin and Michel Buskila, as well as either Katz or his close ally MK Eti Atiya, could receive reserved spots.

The expectation that many of the reserved slots could go to politicians from outside Likud as part of the prime minister’s efforts to bolster his coalition has fueled anger among some party lawmakers, even as others have sought to curry favor with Netanyahu in hopes of securing one of the positions.

Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi urges activists in his own video to vote in favor of the proposal and “stand behind the prime minister until victory,” while Defense Minister Israel Katz and coalition whip Ofir Katz also call for its approval.

The long-delayed and repeatedly postponed vote comes a day after Likud’s internal court struck down Netanyahu’s bid to allow the party to cancel its August 17 primary in the event of a “wartime situation” and instead select candidates through an appointed committee controlled by the premier.