KESHET NEEV

“My goal ultimately is to not have Ben-Gvir and other extremists dictating Israel’s future; they need to and will be returned to the political margins,” Gantz told the Post.

Amir Ohana, Yariv Levin, Miri Regev, and Ofir Katz round out Likud's new top five • May Golan, Gila Gamliel, Idit Silman, and Avi Dichter among lawmakers expected to drop out of Knesset

Likud ministers defended Netanyahu's reserved party-list slots as some 140,000 registered members were eligible to vote in Monday's primaries.

"We now need to take aliyah and deal with it at the same scale, the same investment, the same intensity with which we dealt with security and settlement," said the finance minister.

The primaries come amid fierce internal tensions over changes that have expanded Netanyahu’s control over the party’s Knesset slate, which have made the primaries more competitive than in past years.

Likud’s primary race has become more competitive after changes gave Netanyahu control over eight of the first 30 places on the Knesset slate.

Haddad has held talks with potential political partners, including Brig.-Gen. (res.) Ofer Winter, a controversial figure on the Right, as he weighs his options.

POLITICAL AFFAIRS: Moti Leitner, head of the new Haredi Public Party, wants to encourage mandatory service and introduce core curriculum studies in ultra-Orthodox schools.

He voted against the January 2025 hostage deal, his own voters demanded he resign, and Ben-Gvir walked out. Smotrich stayed silent for five months. In an interview with the Post, he explained why.

“I think that right now the Religious Zionist public can and should run on its own as a big, strong, significant party,” Smotrich told the Post.