On Feb. 17, the weekly meeting of the Likud-Beitenu Knesset faction was surprisingly canceled. The faction’s ministers and Knesset members were given no explanation. Ever since the recent elections, there is no internal activity within the Likud, and these weekly meetings — though lacking any real substance — have become the only opportunity for Likud Knesset members to meet with the prime minister and with each other.
That same morning, the District Court in Tel Aviv ruled in favor of a lawsuit by Deputy Minister of Defense (and Likud Knesset member) Danny Danon against the Likud Party and the prime minister. In doing so, the court overruled a decision by the Likud Party Court, which prevented the Party Committee from discussing diplomatic issues and the merger with the Yisrael Beitenu faction. From now on, Danon and his “clique,” who represent the settlers and the most extreme wing of the Likud, can put the brakes on the prime minister as much as they want in discussions and diplomatic decisions alike, in anticipation of the moments of truth at the negotiations with the Palestinians.
