IfNetanyahu isable to energize the electorate as much as he energized Likud members, his chances are quite good
Last Wednesday, 80,000 Israelis left their homes in sweltering August weather — not for the beach (as a famous Israeli politician once recommended), but to line up at voting booths throughout the country.
Last week, three months from Election Day, primaries were held in the Likud, Israel’s largest party. Among the main parties, only the rightist Likud maintains the tradition — hailing from the ’90s — of giving rank-and-file members say in the makeup of the list.
In the decade-old Yesh Atid, interim prime minister Yair Lapid’s control of the party machinery is absolute. Lapid and his cronies draw up the party slate in the basement of his Tel Aviv home, and even longtime allies have found themselves tossed by the wayside after daring to voice the most restrained criticism.
For example, take Ofer Shelah, a party co-founder once considered Lapid’s closest friend. Shelah had the temerity to muse publicly about holding democratic party primaries after Lapid extended his own chairmanship for the umpteenth time ahead of the 2021 election.
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