Bitan on Likud members: "Their behavior is shameful - they are afraid to speak for fear of revenge from the 'Bibists'"

In the shadow of the possibility of postponing the primaries in Likud due to the security situation, MK David Bitan, considered one of the prominent party members fighting for the primaries to be held, clarified that in his opinion "there is no chance that such a state of emergency will exist." In an interview he gave to 103FM, the MK addressed the issue and said that "if there is indeed a state of emergency as the Prime Minister says - again, the question is what is a state of emergency - but if there is a state of emergency by definition, it is possible to talk about it." As mentioned, he believes that such a scenario is not realistic.

"On one hand, Netanyahu is forced to agree to primaries, and on the other hand, he has again reached the realization that if there is a state of emergency that he controls, then we will reach a nominating committee," Bitan explained. "It will not happen," he clarified, but qualified it by saying that "I do not think he is playing with the state of emergency for the sake of the primaries - that is an exaggeration to say in my eyes." However, Bitan clarified that "if there is a state of emergency, he will use it so that there will be no primaries."

On Netanyahu's reserved spots: "First of all, take care of your party - then the coalition"

"We need to take care of the movement and Likud as it has been over the years," he clarified. "We put Netanyahu in first place - if he brings all the votes, why is he bringing the reserved candidates?" he wondered. According to him, Netanyahu said he needs eight reserved spots to make his list better.

"Of them, one or two are guaranteed to Gideon Sa'ar, one to Smotrich, and regarding Ben Gvir, he made it clear - it will probably also be a condition that Smotrich runs on his list," he said. Bitan added that Netanyahu is considering giving another reserved spot to Haim Katz and possibly also to Eti Atiya. "Katz is going to create a faction within Likud because of a political combination he made together with Netanyahu. They are harming the party," he charged.

Bitan protested the fact that Netanyahu will reserve spots for members of other parties. "We need to take care of Likud, and then we will take care of the coalition. Where will Smotrich go? Where will Ben Gvir go? Should we also give the Haredim spots in Likud?" he clarified, and charged: "If there are elections, you need to take care of your party first, then we will take care of the coalition."

According to him, "they are fooling the registered voters here, because if out of eight - we know who five are, and they do not lift the list anywhere, where is the innovation here?"

On his party members: "Afraid of the 'Bibists' that they will take revenge on them"

Regarding the conduct of his party members in the context of the primaries, he said that "the behavior of the ministers and MKs is shameful to us." According to him, "they are afraid to speak and do something related to the matter, because he (Netanyahu) appoints the ministers after the elections, and he can fire them today if they go against him." Bitan added that the MKs "are afraid of the 'Bibists' that they will take revenge on them if they say something," but insisted that the vote is secret, and claimed that "the registered voters can do whatever they want with it."

"The polls are worrying, and I hope that people will return home," Bitan admitted. "There are voters who are debating what to do, and the role of the election campaign is to bring them back home. Therefore, it is forbidden to harm the essence of Likud - we are all together one big family. We will only be harmed by this matter," he concluded.