A young couple in their 30s joined the Likud Party three months ago; they are part of a group that calls itself the "New Likud." Both voted for the Zionist Camp in the last election, and neither intends to vote Likud in the next election.

Talking to Al-Monitor, the husband said that most of his close friends, who all live in Tel Aviv, have joined the Likud Party in the last few months. "We all identify with the center-left. I am actually thinking of voting for Meretz in the next election. We just reached the conclusion that the Likud will remain in power in the years to come, so we want to influence it from the inside. We want to choose who will be on its Knesset list and promote our own interests," he said.

He insisted on anonymity, since the party is taking a variety of measures to block the New Likud phenomenon. Likud officials claim that it is actually a hostile takeover of the party and part of an attempt to remove its leader, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. On Aug. 14, Maariv newspaper reported that the Likud Party decided to end online registration for the party on its website. In the next few days, the party's internal court will decide whether to invalidate the party credentials of several prominent members of the New Likud for allegedly acting against the Likud Party from the inside.

The organizers of the New Likud estimate that, because of the initiative, some 12,000 people have joined the Likud, out of 100,000 Likud members. They plan to continue increasing their numbers until the next party primaries. Their goal is to create a bloc powerful enough to influence the party's direction from the inside and determine who will appear on its Knesset list. Most of these new members have never voted for the Likud, nor do they plan to do so in the future.