From the Liveblog of
Tuesday, August 11, 2026
MK Gotliv pans Likud for ‘disgraceful move’ granting Katz reserved spot on slate
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"
Likud MK Tally Gotliv slams her party’s decision to give Defense Minister Israel Katz a guaranteed spot on the party’s electoral slate ahead of the primary later this month, calling it “a disgraceful move that mocks Likud voters.”
The firebrand MK mocks Katz as “deeply afraid of the primary results and rightly so.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party announced early Tuesday that Katz, alongside Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar and Likud Central Committee chair Haim Katz, will be granted guaranteed spots on the party’s slate.
The three men will be given reserved placements separate from the eight slots already set aside for candidates of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s choosing, the Likud announcement said, meaning that in total, 11 of the first 29 spaces on the ruling party’s slate will go to handpicked candidates rather than to those elected by the party’s roughly 140,000 members in the August 17 primary.
The premier’s push for reserved slots was based in part on concerns that the primary could elevate candidates who are highly popular among the Likud base — including Gotliv and ministers Shlomo Karhi and May Golan — but who internal party polling suggests are less appealing to moderate right-wing and swing voters whose support could prove decisive in the upcoming national election.
The announcement of Sa’ar, Katz and Katz’s reserved spots came less than a day after the Tel Aviv District Court rejected a petition backed by Netanyahu to strike down a ruling by the party’s internal tribunal that canceled a Likud Central Committee vote that would have allowed sitting and former Knesset members, ministers and deputy ministers to compete for slots reserved for regional districts in the upcoming August 17 primaries.
For decades, Likud’s reserved spots for districts have only been available for new MKs, acting as a diversifying tool that gives new figures a chance to make it into the Knesset. But following public opinion polls that consistently show Likud getting around 22-24 seats in the October 27 election, significantly down from its current 32, Netanyahu heavily campaigned for the Likud Central Committee to approve a change that would let current and former lawmakers, ministers, and deputy ministers vie for those spots.
Katz, who came in at number 11 in the last Likud primary in 2022, told the Ynet news site that he opposed the existence of guaranteed spots on the party list.
The Times of Israel Community.