Gottlieb: "If Likud gets 19 mandates, I will find myself in Shin Bet detention facilities"
The Knesset member, who reached 20th place in the Likud primaries and is slated for a top spot in Otzma Yehudit, claimed that losing her seat in the Knesset would leave her without immunity. An indictment was filed against Gottlieb for exposing the identity of a Shin Bet agent, but the coalition decided to grant her immunity.
Knesset member Tali Gottlieb explained today, Tuesday, what drives her in the potential move to the "Otzma Yehudit" party of Itamar Ben Gvir — a fear that Likud will not reach 19 mandates, and she will find herself in Shin Bet facilities. In an interview with Channel 14, Gottlieb said: "I received the trust of the voters and that means that right-wing voters want me. I am a great electoral force for Likud. I am not a weakening force, I am a strengthening force, of more right and more right."
When asked if there is a way she would remain in Likud, she replied: "Certainly, the Prime Minister is invited to accept my demand to place me in 12th place on his list." According to Gottlieb, if Likud gets 19 mandates and she remains outside the Knesset, she is "in the detention facilities of the General Security Service. In Shin Bet detention conditions, for my sources. I did this for the government. An indictment was filed against me. I managed this struggle alone."
An indictment was filed against Gottlieb for publishing the name of a Shin Bet agent, the partner of protest activist Shikma Bressler. But the Knesset Committee — and subsequently the entire plenum — granted Gottlieb immunity with the support of the majority of coalition members. Granting immunity will exempt Gottlieb from standing trial during the current Knesset term, but in the next Knesset she will be required to request immunity again from the Knesset Committee.
The Likud Knesset member, who finished in 12th place in the primaries but was pushed to 20th place because of the reservations of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, wrote yesterday evening on her X account that she had not yet received an offer from another party, but would consider a move if she did. "I laid on the fence for the PM and the right-wing government," she wrote. Gottlieb clarified: "I will not agree to be a trampled threshold when I am managing the stubborn struggle against the rule of officials and the rioting of the High Court of Justice in its outrageous rulings on diplomatic, military and political matters."
Earlier, it became known that a conversation recently took place between Gottlieb and Otzma Yehudit chairman Itamar Ben Gvir, who is interested in adding her to his list. "I am waiting for the Prime Minister's decision on the Gottlieb issue," he said. Ben Gvir intends for Gottlieb a place in the top five of Otzma Yehudit, likely the fourth place. Such a move will require Gottlieb to leave Likud, and in light of the sharpening of her tone towards Netanyahu in recent days, the Prime Minister is expected to give her his blessing to leave.
