Elkin ranked least socially-minded in Likud, but most right-wing

Levin is most social Likud MK, followed by Katz, Steinitz and Livnat are least-right wing according to NGOs' rankings ahead of party primary.

By LAHAV HARKOV
Ze'ev Elkin (photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM/THE JERUSALEM POST)
Ze'ev Elkin
(photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM/THE JERUSALEM POST)
Likud power duo coalition chairman Ze’ev Elkin and Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee chairman Yariv Levin came out on opposite ends of the Social Guard’s ranking of MKs released Monday, two days before the party’s primary.
The two often work together on bills and used their joint power to secure senior legislative positions in Likud, but Levin was the party’s most socially-minded MK and Elkin was the least.
The Social Guard, a transparency and civic participation NGO, releases a semiannual “Social Index,” rating MKs according to how they voted on social issues.
A vote is considered “social” if, according to the NGO’s staff, it touches on one of the following criteria: ensuring housing for all; employment rights; food and water; physical and mental health; education; social security or the ability to make a living; just distribution of resources and fair management of the economy; preventing discrimination; and allowing democratic participation.
Likud is the lowest-ranking faction in the Social Index.
Elkin is the only Likud MK who ranked lower than Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Most of the low-ranked MKs are ministers.
Knesset Labor, Welfare and Health committee chairman Haim Katz came in second place in Likud.
MK Danny Danon, who is running against Netanyahu in the Likud primary, ranked in 10th place within the Likud.
Elkin may not have won with the Social Guard, but he came out on top of another ranking of Likud MKs that came out last week, this time by their rightwing positions.
Mattot Arim regularly ranks MKs according to how right wing they are and Elkin was first of all lawmakers – not just those in his party – with 24 achievements.
He topped the rankings in previous years, as well.
The ranking is based on actions to promote settlement construction; for Judea and Samaria; security issues; fighting terrorism; nationalist legislation; Jerusalem and Temple Mount issues; diplomacy; judicial matters; and dealing with the “fifth column,” a category the organization did not explain.
Levin came in second place in Likud, followed by MKs Moshe Feiglin, Tzipi Hotovely and Danny Danon. Strategic Affairs Minister Yuval Steinitz came in last place and Culture Minister Limor Livnat was second-tolast.
Elkin called the result encouraging and said he hopes to continue his right-wing work in the next Knesset.
A Likud source, however, was skeptical about the ranking's accuracy, saying that Mattot Arim told a senior MK in the party to put up a Facebook status that he opposes a Palestinian state and when the MK did not immediately do so, he was ranked as not opposing one.