Likud Primaries: Settlement-aligned movements exclude Amir Ohana from recommendation lists

Moments before the opening of the polls in the Likud primaries, movements working for the settlement movement published this evening (Sunday) the list of candidates they recommend that party members vote for. Once again, one of the most prominent names in the Likud leadership is absent from the list: Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana.

The movements are calling on Likud members to strengthen the candidates they define as supporters of the settlement movement in the primaries, and published a list of 12 recommended names ahead of the vote. The list includes Ariel Kallner, Boaz Bismuth, Amit Halevi, Tally Gotliv, Moshe Saada, Shlomo Karhi, Nissim Vaturi, Avichay Buaron, Yariv Levin, May Golan, Osher Shkalim, and Osnat Zoar.

However, the one who was not included in the list is Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana, one of the senior members of Likud. Since this is a closed list of candidates that the movements recommend to their supporters, Ohana's absence effectively means that they are not calling on members who identify with them to cast their votes for him.

This is another list of recommendations in which Ohana has been left out. As reported earlier, the "National Jewish in Likud" forum also published a list of 12 recommended candidates under the heading "Settlement – Judaism – Values," and the Knesset Speaker's name is absent from it as well.

The National-Jewish forum's list included, among others, Yariv Levin, Miri Regev, Keti Shitrit, Ariel Kallner, Avichay Buaron, Eli Cohen, Miki Zohar, Hanoch Milwidsky, Idit Silman, Shlomo Karhi, and Dudi Amsalem – but not Ohana. Thus, on the eve of the primaries, the Knesset Speaker finds himself outside two different recommendation lists identified with the national camp and the settlement movement within Likud – while some of his rivals in the race are receiving support in both.