Current and former advisers to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu vigorously denied charges from his former chief of staff Naftali Bennett Wednesday that Netanyahu is interfering in the Habayit Hayehudi leadership race in an effort to ensure his defeat.
Bennett’s associates said the prime minister received a poll that found that under Bennett’s leadership, a combined Habayit Hayehudi-National Union ticket would win 12 seats. They said that since then, Netanyahu’s advisers and political allies in Likud have tried to help Bennett’s opponent, MK Zevulun Orlev, while issuing anonymous statements to the media bashing Bennett.
