Bitan's muscle, Netanyahu's sting: The political nightmare of the "Likud Bulldozer" | Mati Tuchfeld

Following the decision of the Likud court, according to which incumbent Knesset members and ministers will be able to run in the primaries only on the national list and not in the district slots, the party is marking Minister Haim Katz as the big loser of the move.

The ruling is expected to further increase the density on the national list, where all incumbent Knesset members and ministers will have to compete. However, for Katz, its meaning is broader: it canceled the central clause he sought to promote as part of the agreements he reached with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

For weeks, Katz negotiated with Netanyahu in an attempt to help his associates, Knesset members Eti Atiya and Keti Shitrit, and increase their chances of being integrated into the Likud list for the next Knesset. Netanyahu rejected the possibility of reserving spots for the two using his reservation quota, and therefore an alternative outline was formulated: to allow incumbent Knesset members to run in the districts as well.

As part of the agreements, three clauses were brought for approval to the Likud convention. Two of them were important to Netanyahu: changing the primaries regulations and increasing the number of reserved spots at his disposal to eight. The third clause, which Katz sought to promote in exchange for his support for the first two clauses, was intended to allow incumbent Knesset members to run in the districts.

The intention was to allow Atiya and Shitrit to run in the district slots and thus improve their chances of getting into the list. Katz initially managed to achieve a narrow victory at the convention, when the proposal was approved by a margin of only five votes. However, the Likud court, headed by the court president Michael Kleiner, overturned the result and disqualified the convention's decision.

According to the ruling, incumbent Knesset members will be able to run only on the national list, while the district slots will remain for candidates who are not currently serving in the Knesset. Thus, a situation was created in which Katz gave Netanyahu the support he needed on the two main issues for him - the primaries regulations and the eight reserved spots - but lost the only clause intended to give him a direct political return.

Bitan's muscle in Rishon LeZion

Those who stood against Katz throughout the process was Knesset member David Bitan. Bitan opposed the proposal, among other things due to the fact that Netanyahu conducted the negotiations with Katz alone and did not involve him in formulating the agreements. The opposition was also expressed in the voting at the ballot box in Rishon LeZion, which is considered Bitan's stronghold. At this ballot box, Netanyahu lost on all three proposals: increasing the number of reserved spots, changing the primaries regulations, and the possibility for incumbent Knesset members to run in the districts.

However, at the rest of the ballot boxes across the country, Netanyahu won a large majority on the first two proposals. The third proposal, which was intended to benefit mainly Katz, was approved as mentioned by a slim majority - before it was disqualified in court. Bitan did not manage to prevent Netanyahu from getting what he wanted regarding the reserved spots and the primaries regulations, but the court's ruling canceled the clause that was most important for Katz. Now Atiya and Shitrit will have to compete on the crowded national list, alongside the rest of the incumbent Knesset members and ministers.