A little more than a month to the election date and several senior Likud officials say in conversations with "Israel Hayom" that they will act "to thwart a Likud government when Gantz is first in the rotation if the possibility arises, if we do not obtain 61 mandates for the bloc."
The same Likud senior officials refer to a situation where Netanyahu will not obtain 61 mandates for the right-wing bloc, and with no choice to prevent sixth elections or a center-left government, the possibility will arise that Netanyahu will offer Gantz to be first in the rotation to form a government with the Likud.
Likud still fears reconstruction.
Benjamin Netanyahu and Benny Gantz at a cabinet meeting, May 2020,
As you know, Gantz told the media that he will not sit with Netanyahu in any constellation, even if he is first in the rotation.
After the split of the joint list, the Likud came within touching distance of the 61st mandate in the polls, but the scenario in which Netanyahu will be forced into a partnership with Gantz if they fail to form a government of only the Netanyahu bloc, is taken into account in the heads of the party's senior officials.
The same senior officials say that there are two main reasons why there will be quite a few Likud members who are expected to try to thwart a scenario in which Gantz will be first in the rotation: "If Netanyahu allows Gantz to be first in the rotation, this will break the alliance between the Likud and the ultra-Orthodox and in fact qualify Gantz as a candidate that the ultra-Orthodox can go with as well In the future without the Likud. Those who will be harmed by this are mainly those figures in the Likud who claim the crown the day after Netanyahu, they fear that the alliance with the ultra-Orthodox will not be preserved with the Likud in the future," say the same Likud MKs.
Eisenkot in a statement alongside Gantz and Saar: "Netanyahu cannot run for public office with an indictment" // Archive photo: Moshe Ben Simhon
Another reason they count is the issue of case distribution and reforms in the justice system.
After over a year when the Likud was not in power, the same Likud officials say that they are not ready to sacrifice half of the government portfolios for a partnership with Gantz.
In addition, among them are many MKs who are not ready to return to power just to sit once more in a government in which they will not be able to promote reforms in the judicial system.
In this way, Netanyahu will need each and every one of them and every MK in Likud will have power against the Likud chairman," sum up those senior Likud officials.
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