On Kol BeRama radio Rav Ahron Butbol was asked a quesion about this type of behavior.

A listener asked if it is ok to register for Likud membership so as to support a specific candidate who is religious in his candidacy for a slot on the Likud list. the questioner mentioned that until now he has refused to do so so as to avoid strengthening a secular political party, but ont he other hand perhaps continuing to refuse actually leaves the field open to anti-religious elements and leaves it open to the opposite of what he wants - he wants the Likud to get closer to more religious positions, but leaving it because it isnt a religious party (at least officially) leaves it to be more influenced by anti-religious...

Rav Butbol said that on election day voting for a secular party is a problem because that strengthens a secular party, but the request here is not to actually vote for the Likud but to register so as to vote in the primaries and support a religious candidate. It is problematic to do so because the Haredi public is committed and obligated to vote for the Haredi and religious parties. However, registering for internal elections is a tool to influence the identities of their representatives and is not necessarily considered supporting the platform of the party.

Rav Butbol points out there were three Likud MKs who torpedoed the progress of the Draft law. The PM could not do anything about it. They were elected to Likud slots in the Likud primaries. If the public with a connection to tradition would be more involved in the internal elections in the Likud, candidates who keep tradition and religious values can be elected and the Likud could be turned into a party that protects the Torah world more. 

Before continuing I would note that MKs Edelstein and Ilouz are both religious and still chose to oppose the law that was being presented.

To conclude, Rav Butbol paskened that if the candidate is recognized as a good decent person with a strong and true connection to religion and tradition, there is a strong reason to register to help him be elected. This would not be considered "assisting a chilul hashem" but the exact opposite - strengthening the Torah positions in other political strongholds.

I responded asking about the possibility of the primaries being canceled entirely. While I still dont think that is going to happen and is only being used to pressure Likud leadership to give Netanyahu the maximum number of  "shiryunim" as possible, it is still on the table.

We'll see what he responds, if anything. 

The obne thing that does come of this is that it indicates election season is finally officially here and open!

  -- MK Dan ilouz (Likud)

not sure how he expects the Likud to be able to form a coalition if he thinks the Likud should work against some of its national partners. Whatever you might think about those partners, the Likud needs them at this point... Netanyahu created this fiction of blocs back when we were in a series of re-elections and it has worked well for him, and he should be the one to dismantle it rather than be dragged around by others, but right now he cannot as he has no other options... maybe that is something he should deal with, but util he does, his bloc is his only option...

The issue has been ongoing for a little while, with Netanyahu both demanding a large number of designated slots into which he can personally choose someone for that slot, and also Netanyahu seemingly thinking that certain MKs who would benefit from the primaries and get into realistic slots might harm the Likud list in the upcoming national elections and cost the Likud some seats. That concern is based on advanced polling Netanyahu relies on.

In the end I think this is just posturing and Netanyahu won't go ahead with this. He will use this for some sort of compromise, perhaps to get more "shiryunim", reserved slots, than what others are willing to give but fewer than what he is demanding, or maybe something else. I just cannot see him canceling the primaries.

The Likud, and Netanyahu, has always been very proud of the primaries and uses them to attack many of the other parties. the Likud is one of just a few parties that hold real primaries to choose its candidates, and they regularly claim they are the only democratic party that holds primaruies while other parties have their candidates selected by the chairman or a committee. I have a hard time believing they are really going to give that up and make the Likud just like most of the other parties in that regard. I can see the attacks on the Likud for this if it happens, King Bibi canceling primaries and selecting the candidates that work for him. I don't think he will give anyone that opportunity.

And perhaps a bigger reason is that if there are no primaries, why should anyone be a member of the Likud? If they were to cancel the primaries I would assume there would be mass cancelations of membership, which would be a big financial hit to the Likud.

But now he took a position I strongly agree with and have said the same in the past.

Amsalem referred to the issue of appointing dayanim and said the Likud needs to be a part of any arrangement for appointing dayanim, or the Likud will not allow it to be passed. Amsalem said, "the days of dividing up the available positions between Shas, UTJ, and Mafdal are over. There is also the Likud! If the Likud is not part of the deal, there will not be any appointments of any dayanim!"

I have complained in the past about the Likud and other parties that they do not care about the issues that matter to religion and to the religious sectors and outsource issues of Judaism to the Haredi and DL parties. In my opinion, they should all have positions regarding the office of the Chief Rabbinate, in the appointment of dayanim, in the Ministry of Religious Affairs and in the various religious laws that get passed, and should not just be doing whatever UTJ/Shas/DL want like a rubber stamp for them.

I like that the Likud is finally starting to get involved. We'll see if this turns into one big nothing, just a way for Amsalem to make some noise, and maybe he wants something else and is using this to horse-trade, or if the Likud will really be pushing itself in on these issues. The Likud represents a sizeable, and growing, religious public.

The War Cabinet announced that it has approved the advances of the head of the Mossad to talk with Hamas and negotiate the release of more hostages in exchange for prisoners in Israeli prisons including heavy terrorists - terrorists with real blood on their hands, not just people guilty of stabbing attempts and the like as were previously released. They would consider releasing big guns for a further hostage release, if the conditions are right and an agreement can be reached.

In response, Betzalel Smotritch, who has several times been refused his demand to be added to the War Cabinet, commented with a sharp statement saying the War Cabinet should be sending the Mossad out to find and kill the heads of Hamas, not to talk and negotiate with them. 

Boom! Nice

In response, the Likud commented saying it is upsetting that the Finance Minister tweeted things that have no basis. PM Netanyahu has already instructed the Mossad to assassinate the heads of Hamas wherever they may be, just as he instructed the Finance Minister to open the faucets and take care that money will get to our citizens, to businesses, to the evacuees, to the soldiers and to the Reservists.

Weak, but ok. 

And in response, Smotritch commented back that the only faucets the Prime Minister pressured the Finance Minister to open with all sorts of trickery are the ones meant to send money to the Palestinians to pass on to Hamas in Gaza. It is a good thing the Finance Minister is standing in the breach and setting a red line.

Ok, but also weak.

A better, sharper, response, in my opinion, for Smotritch to say would have been the only faucets the Prime Minister is instructing to open are the water and fuel faucets in Gaza.

Will this fizzle out because they can't let it turn into a real crisis or will they get fed up with each other and decide they can no longer work together and break up the coalition? Time will tell but infighting between coalition members is never good (for the coalition)...

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Israeli officials admit that they have filled all obligations but recently the USA has added more details and has been making it more difficult and it might not happen. The final decision is supposed to come sometime in August, and if qualified it will go into effect in October.

I must say, Netanyahu deserves it. While I feel bad for the Israelis who were looking forward to it (and it still might happen!), Netanyahu deserves it. Back when the Lapid-Bennett government was in power and they were close to finishing the deal with the USA, Netanyahu had the Likud vote against the program because he wanted to prevent them from such a major accomplishment and he wanted to keep it for himself. When Netanyahu thwarted the vote then he said that when he returns to power he will get it passed. 

Sorry, but he deserves it.

Shocking, unacceptable.

After some initial tepid criticism by people in the Likud, as the criticism was starting to pick up Zarka apologized for what he said. ok, whatever. Netanyahu has even given orders to kick him out of the Likud for what he said (Zarka has close ties with Netanyahu and has been seen in the past visiting with Netanyahu and even hugging together) so we'll see if that happens on the surface but in the next elections he continues to work for the Likud, or not. And if the Likud does kick him out, I do not think he will get the same level of inexplicable support from the Left that Yoav Galant and Ami Eshed got...to put it mildly...

I have no doubt that he didnt mean it. I dont know him personally, but I have no doubt. He lost control of his mind and his mouth. He might be an idiot but I do not believe he is proud 6 million Jews, Ashkenazi or not, were murdered in the Holocaust. He was able to say what he said, it came to mind and was able to come out of his mouth, only because we have demeaned the Holocaust in today's generation. When all sorts of groups protest, it is all too common to hear screams of "Nazi" directed at policemen and policewomen. In the political sphere it is all too common to hear comparisons of the other side to senior Nazi officials or Nazi policies. 

When we treat our own common debates and conflicts as equivalent to the Nazi regime it is no surprise that people have lost the concept of the enormity of the Holocaust and how much worse it was than anything we can even imagine happening today.

The Holocaust has shrunk. We use it in every day terminology in all the wrong ways. With all the Holocaust education Israel employs, with all the museums and ceremonies and days of commemorations.. with all the trips to Auschwitz and other concentration camps and Poland and bringing foreign dignitaries to Yad Vashem... with all that, we have successfully brought the Holocaust down to being a symbol of anyone we dont like.

This is a race I did not pay attention to or care about. I do not know the significance of the Israel Bar (other than their rep gets a slot on the judicial selection committee, which now gives, supposedly, the Opposition a de facto second candidate), and I do not know the personalities involved, and dont really have any interest in this.

However, I do find it funny that now that the coalition backed candidate lost the Likud wants to dismantle the Israel Bar and by law make it defunct or insignificant at best (though possibly only starting form the next Israel Bar chairman election).

They lost, they cant control it any longer, so dismantle it. The other guy won but in the long run he will have lost if this goes through.

As rare as that might be, the government is actually trying to give itself an extra year before elections. They are extremely optimistic about this possibility to even bother trying.

According to reports in Haaretz, and Behadrei, the Likud has submitted a request tot he election board to set the date for the next elections as November 2, 2027, giving themselves an extra year (approximately). The claim used by the Likud is that the elections were held in the month of Cheshvan so with the law saying that elections for a new term will be held in the Cheshvan following the end of the four year term, the Likud wants to say the Cheshvan that we held the last elections in should not be counted, thus giving them an extra year until the next Cheshvan.

Knesset legal counsel is opposing this request saying the official date of elections (if the Knesset serves its full term) will be the 3rd Tuesday of Cheshvan 5787, which would be November 17 2026.

the Likud is being attacked for trying to pass a law to extend their term without elections, which they reject. The truth is that they are not passing a law for this, just manipulating the existing law to give themselves a longer term.

For anyone who thinks that the judicial reform as proposed would give them the possibility of canceling elections whenever they might wish to, take a look and see that the Likud right now will take advantage of any chance to give themselves more service time without elections. If the reform gives them full power to pass whatever law they want, it isnt farfetched to think they might delay elections if it suits them

The Likud, UTJ and Shas want to keep their good working relationship with MK Ahmed Tibi (TAAL). To that end they are trying to convince coalition members to support Tibi for the slot of Deputy Speaker of the Knesset, a position held by Tibi for a long time, and traditionally held by a member of the Opposition (in addition to other deputies by coalition members).

Some in the Likud such as Tali Gottleib are opposed to supporting Tibi to continue in this position, as Ministers Smotritch and Ben Gvir (and presumably others in their parties) are also opposed to this.

Were the Likud and Shas and UTJ just selling their voters a bill of goods when they campaigned on the formation of a "full right wing government"? Were their voters largely hoodwinked?

I am pretty sure I am going to get tired of pointing these types of situations out, so I will probably stop pretty soon, but for now, this is immediately after formation of the government and this is when they should be most promoting their full right wing government, not already giving in to outside pressures and taking other considerations into account. Tibi might help the Haredim with some religious legislation as he always has but he wont help with right wing legislation.

Several Likud MKs have been making noise of trouble for Netanyahu, demanding senior positions "or else".

The Likud has primaries, and the MKs are positioned in the Likud according to the results of the primaries. Yes, Netanyahu has a lot of leeway and wiggle room, but in general the primaries are supposed to be the guide for who gets what assignmentss.

It is very nice that Yisrael Katz is extremely senior in the Likud with a lot of ministerial experience, but he only came in at number 12 in the primaries. It is nice that Danny Danon has been around a long time and has seniority with experience, but he only came in at number 15 in the primaries. Others as well, each in whatever slot they landed.

The top slots in the primaries were achieved by Yariv Levin, Eli Cohen, Yoav Galant, Dudi Amsalem, Amir Ochana, Yoav Kish, Nir Barkat, Miri Regev and Miki Zohar (in that order, after Netanyahu).

With all due respect to the more senior Likudniks like Katz, Edelstein, Danon and some others, plenty of other Likudniks came in higher in the primaries. It is not that I don't think they are worthy of the more important assignments that they are demanding - they are. But, they came in much lower than many others in the primaries, and the people who placed higher deserve the more important assignments. That is the point of having primaries.

They might be making some trouble for Netanyahu, but they should not be. They should accept the results of the primaries and their positioning and accept assignments relative to that. Netanyahu should stand strong and tell them they failed in the primaries so the more senior tasks need to go to the people who placed higher.

Whether it is true or spin, I have no idea. I am also not commenting on the idea of Yariv Levin being appointed as Minister of Justice. Perhaps he is deserving of the post and qualified for it, perhaps not. I dont know if he would be any better or worse than anyone else in that role, so I am not commenting on it. 

I do find it interesting that UTJ is requesting a specific person from another party appointed to run a specific ministry. If UTJ would put together their appointments and Netanyahu would put himself in the middle of that saying I want you to appoint Porush as Minister of Culture, or Maklev as Minister of Whatever, as deserving, or not, of the appointment that person might be, UTJ would tell Netanyahu to butt out of their business and let them worry about their own appointments. It is interesting to me that UTJ is telling Likud who to appoint where.

Just this morning Netanyahu said at a campaign event that he is in favor of the Haredim learning core curriculum studies in their education system and he will find a way to bring them along, though it has to be done through dialogue.

Additionally, Netanyahu said in a campaign event that the main portfolios need to be held by the Likud, especially the Finance Ministry and the Defense Ministry. The Finance Ministry has been mentioned by both Smotritch and Goldknopf as potential portfolios they each would request. The Defense Ministry was also mentioned by Smotritch as one he might demand.

Whether any of this ever was realistic is a different story, and this all might just be the start of coalition negotiations, but it seems like a potential collision course, especially after the recent incident in Kfar Chabad...

Fair is fair and now Yair Lapid is set to give a speech at the United Nations during an election season (again, when is it not an election season here?) and now Netanyahu has appealed to the electoral board to prevent the broadcasting stations from broadcasting Lapid's speech live, but with a 10 minute delay.

Fair is fair, and if that's the rule, so be it. But really, these types of rules are anachronistic and useless and should be done away with.

Does it matter of Channels 11, 13, 14 and the other local broadcasts delay 10 minutes when most people are anyway watching it on the Internet live? And even if they are not, they could if they wanted to. Do we really need these delays in 2022 to protect the people from electioneering when anyone can see it live online from a multitude of other media organizations broadcasting it? These types of rules should all be done away with.

The Likud has attacked this decision to send these letters now, claiming it is a political ploy, as the letter is sent during an election season - another way of hurting Netanyahu and trying to weaken him before elections.

The committee until now has been praised all around as being serious, not political, and fair and determined to reveal the truth. Just because some people dont like the interim conclusions does not mean all that has to now no longer be true. 

And the thing is, at least in the past 3 years, but even before that as well though not as in extreme a manner, in Israel we are always right before an election. Nothing would ever get accomplished, as little as gets accomplished as is, if they always had to worry about the ramifications and effect on an upcoming election!

Similar to the way Hamas ends military campaigns with a cease fie to give themselves time to prepare for the next one, Israel concludes an election season just to give itself a bit of time to prepare for the next one.

The court decided that Laniado can run and they cannot bar him from running due to a crime of which the statue of limitations has already passed. While Netanyahu is appealing the decision, he is encouraging voters to not vote for Laniado but to vote for other candidates who will not hurt the Likud's image.

Interesting that Laniado was not framed. Interesting that Laniado is not innocent with the justice system just having tried to bring him down. Interesting that Netanyahu does not want a convicted felon on the list that will hurt the Likud image but he is fine working alongside Aryeh Deri (a convicted felon), along with other Likud members who are also convicted felons (like Tzachi Hanegbi) and others whow ere indicted such as Haim Katz and David Biton. And he was close with Yaakov Litzman who was in Knesset until his recent plea deal. Along with others over the years. And let's not forget that Bibi himself was indicted and is on trial for various crimes. But Laniado's conviction from 11 years ago will make the Likud look bad. 

And let's not forget Bibi's argument to let the people decide - preventing someone from running is undemocratic and it should be the people that decide who should represent them...

Right now I have a problem with the Likud, though I have not canceled my membership. As long as Bibi is running the Likud, I can no longer support it. As long as his groupies are the leaders of the Likud I cannot support it.

My question is not whether or not I should vote in the upcoming Likud primaries. This is exactly why I am a member of the Likud - so I can influence from within and do my little part in helping the Likud put forth an attractive list of candidates for Knesset who will work for the betterment of the country. If I don't like the current list, it is my responsibility to do my part to improve it, primarily via voting in the primaries.

My question is more tactical.

Should I vote for the best possible list of candidates, even if some of them are "Bibists" - Bibi groupies -  and overall I think hurting the party and even the country even if they also do good work in Knesset, or should I vote for a party of, let's call it colorful, characters  who might hurt the Likud in the short term by being the face of the Likud but in the long term the Likud will perhaps clean up their act because of this?

What do you think?

The State Department and the Ambassador Tom Nides has been working with the Israeli government over the past year to help Israel qualify, as there are several requirements that always threw Israel for a loop. One of the main requirements is a low percentage of mistakes on visa applications - below 3%. Israeli applications seem to normally come back with much higher numbers than that, and that prevents, among other things, Israel for qualifying for the visa exemption. This year because of the past year's low travel rate, the Embassy has been able to help Israelis fill out the form properly and keep the mistakes to almost definitely below the cutoff line.

It seems the only thing holding up the arrangement is the Likud not wanting the current government to get this accomplishment, so they are opposing the arrangement and has voted and continues to vote against it. Nides has reportedly pleaded with Netanyahu to not hold up the legislation, saying cancelling it now could throw away the best, and maybe only, chance for this exemption to go through.

Be that as it may, the Likud put out a statement saying that they are opposing the legislation because the current legislation violates the privacy of Israelis, and when they form the government they will pass the legislation properly (though they didnt bother doing this over the 12 consecutive years they ran the government until last year).

That is funny considering how the Likud government sold the privacy (not really but probably about as much as this legislation does) of Israelis in 2020 when he gave it away as part of the deal to buy the COVID-19 vaccinations.