Party-jumper Orly Levy-Abekasis likely to be on outside looking in at next Knesset

11 August 2022, 6:00 pm

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Likud MK Orly Levy-Abekasis is ejected from the Knesset House Committee hearing on Yamina's request to declare MK Amichai Chikli a "defector" from the party, April 25, 2022. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Likud MK Orly Levy-Abekasis is almost certain not to make it into the next Knesset after a poor showing in yesterday’s primaries.

She will likely be placed at 50th on the slate for the Likud party, which is expected to win between 30 and 35 seats, according to recent polling.

Levy-Abekasis first entered the Knesset on the joint Likud-Yisrael Beytenu list in 2009. She remained with Avigdor Liberman’s Yisrael Beytenu in the next election before splitting from his party over disagreements with its chairman.

She then started her own Gesher party, which failed to enter the Knesset in its first try. In the second round, it merged with Labor and she squeaked into parliament. In the third of five consecutive elections, Labor-Gesher joined with Meretz, but won just seven seats.

Levy-Abekasis then bolted the joint left-center slate to join the pro-Netanyahu bloc, which led to her being named community empowerment minister. The decision earned her ridicule from much of the anti-Netanyahu camp but also guaranteed her a spot on the Likud slate in the next election.

But a year later, her luck appears to have run out and she will be on the outside looking in come November.