A leadership election was held by the
Likud
Likud ( he, הַלִּיכּוּד, HaLikud, The Consolidation), officially known as Likud – National Liberal Movement, is a major centre-right to right-wing political party in Israel. It was founded in 1973 by Menachem Begin and Ariel Shar ...
party on 26 December 2019. Incumbent
Benjamin Netanyahu
Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu (; ; born 21 October 1949) is an Israeli politician who served as the ninth prime minister of Israel from 1996 to 1999 and again from 2009 to 2021. He is currently serving as Leader of the Opposition and Chairman of ...
defeated
Gideon Sa'ar
Gideon Moshe Sa'ar ( he, גִּדְעוֹן סַעַר; born 9 December 1966) is an Israeli politician who has served as Minister of Justice since June 2021. Sa'ar was previously a member of the Knesset for the Likud between 2003 and 2014, as De ...
by a large majority.
Background
After the
April 2019 Israeli legislative election
April is the fourth month of the year in the Gregorian and Julian calendars. It is the first of four months to have a length of 30 days, and the second of five months to have a length of less than 31 days.
April is commonly associated with ...
, Netanyahu was unable to form a coalition by the deadline of 29 May. Instead of letting
Benny Gantz
Benjamin Gantz ( he, בִּנְיָמִין "בֵּנִי" גַּנְץ, Transliterated: ; born 9 June 1959) is an Israeli politician and retired army general serving as the minister of Defense since 2020 and deputy prime minister of Israel si ...
attempt to form a coalition of his own, the majority of the Knesset dissolved itself, and a snap election was held on 17 September 2019.
The second election was inconclusive, prompting warnings of a third election. The threat was deemed unacceptable by the opposition and the general public, and Netanyahu called on Gantz to form a
national unity government
A national unity government, government of national unity (GNU), or national union government is a broad coalition government consisting of all parties (or all major parties) in the legislature, usually formed during a time of war or other na ...
, even offering to cede the position of
Prime Minister
A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is ...
some time in the future. Gantz rejected this offer, noting that Netanyahu's proposed unity government would include all of Netanyahu's right-wing allies, but none of Gantz's centre-left allies.
Yair Lapid
Yair Lapid ( he, יָאִיר לַפִּיד, transliterated: , ; born 5 November 1963) is an Israeli politician and former journalist who has been serving as the 14th prime minister of Israel since 1 July 2022. He previously served as the al ...
, then a member of Gantz's
Blue and White alliance, also refused to sit with Likud as long as Netanyahu was its leader, due to the
criminal cases against Netanyahu.
In October 2019, amid coalition talks, Netanyahu indicated that he was considering holding snap primaries for party leadership.
Gideon Sa'ar
Gideon Moshe Sa'ar ( he, גִּדְעוֹן סַעַר; born 9 December 1966) is an Israeli politician who has served as Minister of Justice since June 2021. Sa'ar was previously a member of the Knesset for the Likud between 2003 and 2014, as De ...
said in a tweet, "I'm ready." After Netanyahu decided against holding a leadership election, Sa'ar said that he would run in the next election and would support Netanyahu until then.
On 21 November 2019, Netanyahu was officially indicted for breach of trust, accepting bribes, and fraud. As a result of the indictment, some in Likud began to support Sa'ar in his bid for the chairmanship of the party. On 24 November 2019, Sa'ar asked the Likud Central Committee to schedule a party leadership race within two weeks.
Polling
Results
Sa’ar won 7 of the 116 polling places, with Netanyahu winning the rest. Nearly all of Sa’ar's victories were in majority
Druze
The Druze (; ar, دَرْزِيٌّ, ' or ', , ') are an Arabic-speaking esoteric ethnoreligious group from Western Asia who adhere to the Druze faith, an Abrahamic, monotheistic, syncretic, and ethnic religion based on the teachings o ...
towns and cities, indicating that Druze voters were still upset over Netanyahu's support of the 2018
Nation State Bill.
Aftermath
The
2020 election
This national electoral calendar for 2020 lists the national/federal elections held in 2020 in all sovereign states and their dependent territories. By-elections are excluded, though national referendums are included.
January
*5 January:
**Cro ...
was initially a stalemate, which was resolved when Likud reached a coalition agreement with Blue and White. Under the terms of the agreement, the premiership would
rotate
Rotation, or spin, is the circular movement of an object around a '' central axis''. A two-dimensional rotating object has only one possible central axis and can rotate in either a clockwise or counterclockwise direction. A three-dimensional ...
between
Benjamin Netanyahu
Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu (; ; born 21 October 1949) is an Israeli politician who served as the ninth prime minister of Israel from 1996 to 1999 and again from 2009 to 2021. He is currently serving as Leader of the Opposition and Chairman of ...
and
Benny Gantz
Benjamin Gantz ( he, בִּנְיָמִין "בֵּנִי" גַּנְץ, Transliterated: ; born 9 June 1959) is an Israeli politician and retired army general serving as the minister of Defense since 2020 and deputy prime minister of Israel si ...
, with Gantz given the new position of
Alternate Prime Minister
The alternate prime minister of Israel ( he, ראש הממשלה החליפי, translit=Rosh ha-memshela ha-ḥalifi) is the ''de facto'' deputy of the prime minister of Israel and the second highest ranking cabinet minister, who is designated t ...
until November 2021. The
new cabinet did not include Gideon Sa'ar.
Following the new cabinet's collapse over budgetary issues in December 2020, Sa'ar announced that he would leave Likud and will form his own party, called
New Hope
New Hope may refer to:
Places United States
* New Hope, Alabama
* New Hope, Arkansas (disambiguation)
* New Hope, Florida
* New Hope, Early County, Georgia
* New Hope, Paulding County, Georgia
* New Hope, Illinois
* New Hope, Indiana
* Ne ...
. The party contested the
2021 Israeli legislative election
Legislative elections were held in Israel on 23 March 2021 to elect the 120 members of the 24th Knesset. It was the fourth election in two years. Yair Lapid and Naftali Bennett announced that they had formed a rotation government on 2 June 20 ...
, with the intent of forming a governing coalition, and removing Netanyahu from office, and won six seats.
References
{{Benjamin Netanyahu
2019 in Israel
2019 elections in Israel
December 2019 events in Asia
Likud leadership elections
Benjamin Netanyahu
Likud leadership election