The Likud Party's secretariat was set to vote Tuesday on approving reserved slots on the party’s Knesset slate for three ministers selected by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ahead of the elections.
During the vote, the party’s top internal court issued an interim order blocking one of the reservations for Likud Central Committee Chairman Haim Katz, who also holds multiple ministerial portfolios.
Additional reserved slots are set to be granted to Defense Minister Israel Katz and Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar.
The formal requests to reserve several slots for Netanyahu’s appointees were submitted to the Likud secretariat. While the vote was reportedly underway, the party’s top internal court issued the interim order freezing only the proposed slot for Haim Katz.
The court noted that the Central Committee chairman had already registered to run in the August 17 primaries and began campaigning. If the reserved slot were approved, he could stop campaigning, only to be placed at a disadvantage if the court later overturned the approval and he was forced back into the race. The court therefore suspended the vote on Katz’s slot pending a further decision.
The vote by the Likud secretariat on Tuesday comes after Netanyahu’s ability to control the slate was expanded last month.
The premier was granted the authority to determine eight slots within the first 30 spots on the party list last month following a vote on the controversial decision by the Likud Central Committee.
The party said its internal court ruled last week that the defense minister should receive a reserved slot, “even though he was already expected to reach the top of the list,” in order to “allow him to focus on security needs rather than engage in politics at this time.”
Sa’ar to receive slot upon party's merger with Likud
Likud also stated that Sa’ar would receive a reserved slot as part of the merger agreement between his party and the Likud and that the Likud Central Committee chairman would receive a slot due to his senior position in the party.
Sa’ar had announced in 2025 that his New Hope-United Right would be merging with Likud, and would be returning to the party. He previously resigned from the Likud in 2020, heavily criticizing Netanyahu at the time.
Likud had announced Monday that Netanyahu’s first reserved slot would go to entrepreneur and businessman Oren Dobronsky. The party announced shortly after 1 a.m. on Tuesday that the three ministers were also expected to receive reserved slots.
The changes to the party's primaries have led to fierce internal tensions, with some party members in favor and others strongly against.
A fierce critic of changing the system has been MK Tally Gotliv, who is viewed as a candidate who would receive broad support from registered party members.
Gotliv sharply criticized the Tuesday decision to reserve the slots for the three ministers, condemning the defense minister.
She called the decision to grant Katz a reserved slot “a disgraceful move that mocks Likud voters, who understand one thing more than all the veteran ministers: the need to fight the legal establishment that is persecuting the right-wing government and right-wing figures.”
Gotliv later said she planned to petition the Likud’s internal court for a further hearing over the decision to grant Katz the reserved slot.
Netanyahu reportedly has held several meetings with the Likud Central Committee chairman Katz, seeking to bridge disagreements over the primary system and secure internal support for changing the system.
There were also reports that Netanyahu has threatened to leave Likud if the proposed changes were not advanced.
Those within the party who oppose changing the primaries have argued that it will cause those who would otherwise score highly in the primaries to fall further down the list.
The Likud has for years prided itself on conducting primaries in which over 100,000 of its registered members are eligible to vote for the Knesset list. Netanyahu pushed to change the system in recent weeks ahead of the primaries, which were set for August 17.
Parties are not required to hold primaries in Israel, and only a few do so.
The Likud primaries are expected to be highly competitive. Likud currently has around 40 ministers and MKs serving in the government and Knesset, but recent polls project the party winning only about 25 seats, leaving many at risk of losing their places on the party’s Knesset list.
Likud primary issue comes as October elections loom
The debate on how to hold the Likud primaries comes ahead of the general elections, which are set to take place on October 27.
The primaries determine the Likud’s Knesset slate, with the party chairman placed first. Registered members then vote for candidates on the national list, while members from geographic districts vote for candidates from their respective districts.
Candidates chosen on the national list are combined with district representatives and places that guarantee representation for groups including women, immigrants, young members, and minorities. The regulations also reserve certain positions for candidates chosen by the party chairman.
In the 2022 primaries, for example, the first group of positions after the party chairman was largely filled by nationally elected candidates, while district positions and guaranteed-representation slots were inserted farther down the slate. Netanyahu was also given several reserved positions.
The precise locations of those different categories are determined before each election through the party’s temporary election regulations. That is why the current fight has centered not only on whether primaries will take place, but on how much of the resulting slate the members will actually control.
The tensions surrounding the slots also come after the Tel Aviv District Court on Monday rejected Likud MK Afif Abed’s attempt to restore a narrowly approved change allowing current and former MKs, ministers and deputy ministers to run in the party’s district primaries, leaving the restrictions in place ahead of the August 17 vote.
Judge Yaakov Shaked nevertheless sided with Abed on a central issue in the dispute, ruling that the Likud’s top internal court had exceeded its authority when it found that allowing incumbent politicians to compete in district races violated the party’s principle of equality.