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Likud candidates pledge loyalty to Netanyahu

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Likud election candidates pledged their loyalty to Benjamin Netanyahu yesterday after Avigdor Lieberman said the Likud might choose another leader after the September election.

Lieberman told Israel’s Channel 12 Meet the Press programme on Sunday that he is: “Certain that if the Likud party understands that Netanyahu is incapable of forming the next government, it will suggest an alternative.” He added that if Netanyahu and Benny Gantz refuse to form a broad unity government, he will: “Approach Likud lawmakers and tell them to bring someone that will agree to such a government.” He suggested Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein would be a “worthy candidate.”

Likud MK David Bitan then arranged for all the Likud candidates to agree a loyalty pledge on whatsapp, which read: “We, the signatories below, the Likud candidates for the 22nd Knesset, stress that we will not accept any dictate from any other party… The prime minister and the Likud chair person, Benjamin Netanyahu, is the sole Likud candidate for prime minister, and there will be no other candidate.” Netanyahu wrote on Twitter on Sunday afternoon: “Thanks to the Likud members for their unequivocal support. We are always united!” Netanyahu’s spokesperson said the pledge marked the collapse of the “plot to replace Netanyahu.”

The Blue and White party said in response: “The Likud is preparing for the day after Netanyahu. No document or petition by Netanyahu will stop the talks and the meetings that are taking place between Likud people and us.” The Democratic Union’s Stav Shaffir said the petition showed the Likud is “committing suicide.”

Israeli media commentators pointed out that the whatsapp pledge would have no legal force and not stop Likud MKs changing their mind after the election. Yossi Verter in Haaretz described the story as “In the middle of the top ten most ridiculous moments in Israeli political history.”