Primaries reshuffled the cards in Likud: "The only security expert in the party is apparently out"
Aviv Bushinsky, former advisor to Benjamin Netanyahu, analyzes the results of the Likud primaries: according to him, Netanyahu strengthened his control but received a "pale" list. At the same time, he identifies the new and significant axis forming of Bitan-Barkat.
The Likud primaries ended with quite a few names left out. Aviv Bushinsky, former advisor to the Prime Minister, believes that this is a landslide victory for Benjamin Netanyahu, but thinks that the emerging list is not attractive enough. He analyzed the results in a conversation with Anat Davidov and Gideon Oko on 103fm.
"Netanyahu enjoys hegemony - he will have no rivals, he eliminated all his opponents. All his opponents evaporated. But in my opinion, this list is very pale. Overall, Netanyahu has a very comfortable list," said the former advisor.
He detailed: "Netanyahu got what he wanted - Miri Regev as the first woman, Idit Silman and May Golan out, not a great loss for Israeli politics."
Regarding the firm status of the Minister of Justice, Bushinsky said that "Yariv Levin, whom many in Likud were angry at for being brutal regarding the judicial reform, finishes in second place, which is not a disaster for him."
In contrast, he was surprised by the low position of the Chairman of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee. "Boaz Bismut placed very low; when they talked about Gur Hasidim who were pushed into the Likud primaries, they thought he would place very high."
Another key person in Likud will apparently not be in the next Knesset. "Avi Dichter is apparently out, and he is the only security expert in Likud. In the current situation, the list is not so attractive to those who want to be in the ruling party, and now everything depends on whether Netanyahu will succeed in recruiting players who will make the list newer and better."
Despite the Prime Minister's firm control over his party, Bushinsky identifies a new axis that may challenge his hegemony. "There is a new axis here: Bitan-Barkat, even though they do not like each other," he said, and this is something the Prime Minister very much does not want: "Netanyahu wants his loyalists so that there will not be a faction within a faction or a breakaway list."
Likud is in bad shape
Will the new list help Likud ahead of the general elections in October? Bushinsky thinks not. "This list? I don't think it will be that attractive, Likud is in bad shape. Netanyahu is counting on 640,000 new voters, whom they will focus on. They have a tendency to vote for the right."
