Netanyahu won’t reserve high spots on Likud slate for several senior lawmakers — report

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will not use the spots he controls on the Likud party’s election slate to ensure that several senior lawmakers enter the next Knesset, according to a Channel 12 report.

Netanyahu controls eight of the top 30 spots on Likud’s list. The network says, as previously reported, that he is considering giving one of those spots to Agriculture Minister Avi Dichter.

But several other senior Likud members who placed low in this week’s primary may not be granted one of those spots, according to the report. The list of candidates who may be left out of the next Knesset includes Social Equality Minister May Golan, Environmental Minister Idit Silman, Knesset Finance Committee Chair Hanoch Milwidsky, and lawmakers Ariel Kallner and Keti Shitrit.

Silman being frozen out is especially notable because she was instrumental in Netanyahu returning to power in 2022, after she defected from the anti-Netanyahu government that was in place at the time, depriving it of a majority and leading to an election that he won.

Golan has lashed out at Netanyahu following her poor showing in the primary.

According to the report, Netanyahu has reassured his party members that if he wins, he will make extensive use of the so-called Norwegian Law, which allows lawmakers appointed to ministerial roles to resign their spots in the Knesset. Those resignations, in turn, would allow more of the party’s members to enter the parliament.