Uproar in Likud meeting

Raised voices in party meeting as party members express their displeasure with the Likud’s loss of power.

By  Shlomo Witty, INN , Jun 25 , 2021 1:23 PM

A party meeting of the Likud was held in Maccabiah yesterday, for the first time since the inauguration of the new government.

Members of the party were vocally outraged by Netanyahu’s conduct in a variety of areas, at the lack of elections to Likud institutions, and what they claim to have been irresponsible conduct leading to their losing the government.

A handful of members, one of whom is a member of the party secretariat and the other a registered Likud activist who entered the conference, blamed settlement leaders in Judea and Samaria for overthrowing the Likud regime, but the vast majority voiced their support for Samaria governor Yossi Dagan’s movement to rally Likud support for settlements.

Dagan, who has been attacked by Yair Netanyahu on social media in a series of tweets about his projects in the Samaria, said at the conference: “Likud members in Judea and Samaria will remain united, and we will return the Likud to power. We have a lot to fix, mainly the hatred that has recently filled our party.”

Dagan responded to incitement against the settlers in Judea and Samaria:

“I know that the same people who tell me they will dance when they kill me or my residents do not represent anyone in the Likud which is a movement of millions of citizens. We must contain this hateful minority among us.”

” We contain them all because we represent the people of Israel. The Likud movement represents everyone. Secular and religious and Haredi, Ashkenazi and Sephardim, and Arabs and Druze. I am proud to be a Likud member, I am proud to be the head of a Likud local government, and to lead thousands of Likud functions. We are united.”

Dagan continued: “The majority of settlers aren’t on television, they are hard at work – in the Galilee and the Negev, as well as in Judea and Samaria. We are working hard for the community of Evyatar, which was established after two murders and is already home to 53 families. I thank the MKs that have already arrived to support the city, and promise that we will save Evyatar and return the power to the Likud where it belongs. ”

Most members of the Likud attacked those shouting at Dagan and even applauded the governor during his remarks. The chairman of the Likud secretariat, former Finance Minister Israel Katz, restored order, and Knesset members who participated in the debate backed Yossi Dagan and the settlers in Judea and Samaria.

MK Miki Zohar joined Dagan: “As Dagan said, Likud is a party for all the people of Israel. It has everything. There is room for everyone. And anyone who does not know how to respect this is not the Likud and should excuse himself. The opposition defeats the coalition through cohesion, not by civil wars. The Likud respects and works together. Our strength is in our unity. ”

MK Yoav Galant added: “If we continue to quarrel we forward the goal of those who are now in the coalition. From my little military experience, when you lie in an ambush and want to eliminate a convoy you can shoot the whole convoy, or you can fire a sniper rifle at the convoy commander. They have attacked our commander; we cannot let them win by scattering in every direction.”

Racheli Ben-Ari Skaat, a member of the Likud Secretariat, vice president of the Israel Chamber of Tax Advisers, chairwoman of the Likud party, and a member of the Raanana City Council on behalf of the Likud, added: “The most important issue on the agenda is Evyatar. The same volunteers who went door to door getting out our vote are the ones now building the settlement. Yossi Dagan did the right thing when he moved his offices to Evyatar – it should be unthinkable for anyone in the Likud to support destroying a settlement on State-owned land. We must hold our next party meeting in Evyatar, as early as Sunday if possible. I have already sent an invitation to all our MKs, and expect everyone to arrive in Evyatar to show their support.”