Yair Netanyahu, PM’s firebrand son, said to be made member of powerful Likud Central Committee

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s son Yair Netanyahu has been made a member of the powerful Central Committee of his father’s ruling Likud party in an unelected role, according to Hebrew media reports.

Netanyahu’s name was listed among the members of the party’s regional branch of Ma’ale Yosef near the northern Lebanese border. Central Committee elections were held in November, but Netanyahu did not run and appears to have been appointed as part of internal party agreements.

The Central Committee serves as the party’s main representative body, responsible for approving major policy decisions and internal rules. The body will directly influence the party’s Knesset slate ahead of the upcoming elections, set to be held by October.

The appointment appears to be the latest attempt to bring the younger Netanyahu into Israeli politics in an unelected capacity, following Likud’s attempt in November to grant him a cushy job at the World Zionist Organization as part of negotiations over leadership of the WZO and Jewish National Fund-KKL, which controls billions of dollars in funding for Jewish causes.

That appointment drew widespread objections, leading to a firestorm that caused the original agreement on WZO appointments to be abandoned.

Netanyahu, who has spent much of the past two years living in Miami, Florida, is known for his firebrand social media presence and association with far-right European and American politicians and figures. In recent months, he has denounced the current IDF chief of staff, called Qatar’s leader a modern-day Hitler, blamed the Israeli left for major forest fires, and castigated the president of France.