The Likud party is refusing to give up on its efforts to form an alternative government.
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"[Opposition Leader Benjamin] Netanyahu is all worked up over it. He's asked to pressure every lawmaker and element possible," one party official said.
The party emphasized there was no proposal on the table that would see someone other than Netanyahu serve as premier and that "if someone had made such an offer to Blue and White party head Benny Gantz, they were speaking only for themselves."
Meanwhile, the Likud party is gearing up for primary elections for the next Knesset.
The district primaries are seen as easier wins for candidates as they are chosen by members of the Likud Central Committee while the winners in the national primaries are chosen by 140,000 Likud members across the country.
According to senior Likud officials, "A confrontation is brewing between Netanyahu and [Likud MK] Haim Katz's approach and that of [Likud MKs] Yisrael Katz and David Bitan on the district issue."
Likud regulations determine that anyone who has served as a lawmaker for over six months is barred from running in the district primaries and must run in the national primaries instead.
"Katz and Bitan want the regulations to remain in place to allow new Likud members considered loyal to them to run for the Knesset. They plan to create a broad group of central committee members that would agree to allow people of their choosing to enter the Knesset. They're trying to create a party within a party," one senior Likud member said.
On the other hand, Haim Katz and Netanyahu tend to support an initiative that would change the regulations to allow lawmakers set to serve in the Knesset for over six months to run in the district primaries. Netanyahu hopes to preserve the Likud list and prevent the entry of elements that would either harm the list or be disloyal to him.
The planned change will significantly hamper Yisrael Katz and Bitan's plans to bring new lawmakers into the Knesset because incumbents will be more likely to secure votes from central committee members than unknown activists.
Likud officials claim Haim Katz wants to change the regulations to allow Likud MK Etty Atia to run in the district primaries, where she will have a better chance of being re-elected.
In a statement, Yisrael Katz's office called the allegations a "vulgar lie." It said Katz was not involved with the issue, which it said was the responsibility of the Likud party chairman.
Haim Katz's office issued a statement saying: "With the dissolution of the Knesset, Likud Central Committee Chairman Haim Katz and party Chairman Benjamin Netanyahu will coordinate all the details necessary to hold the primaries for the good of the party and the Likud's success in the general elections."
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