One of the big winners in the Likud party primaries, held Wednesday, is former justice and public affairs minister Amir Ohana. In 2019, Ohana won the 18th slot on the Likud list, but this week jumped to No. 6.
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"I wasn't part of deals. The support for me broke down the deals … People threw away ballots and wrote in my name," Ohana says.
Q: Why weren't you part of the deals with Haim Katz and David Bitan – was it personal?
"You need to ask them."
Q: Are there problems in your relationship with them?
"The relations are fine."
Speaking to Israel Hayom just before the final results were announced on Thursday, Ohana points to what could be a major issue in the election campaign – the battle over Israel's legal system.
"One of the things that most bothers Likudniks is the rot that has taken over the judicial system and the State Attorney's Office. That has to be fixed. I was only justice minister for a year and I did things no one had. My battle against the oligarchy of the attorney general, the fact that I made decisions that went against his opinion, that I didn't bow my head to every whim of the legalists.
"We can't live without a legal system. The [public's] faith in it has dropped to an unprecedented low, it has to be corrected – not destroyed, sacrificed, or burned – so the public can have a legal system it believes in."
Q: The sense is that you all remembered the issue only because of the Netanyahu trial.
"That's slander, with no basis in reality, and the people behind it are the members of the 'Anyone but Bibi' camp. I realized that the legal system had taken the reins of the country's leadership back when I was a student and [former Chief Justice] Aharon Barak led the constitutional revolution."
Q: But Likudniks became aware of the matter because of the trial.
"Of course, the insanity increased when the legal system brought Israel into three years of elections, hatred, division, and black flags – all because of ridiculous, delusional cases, as every discussion in the Netanyahu trial is revealing. Certainly it didn't do anything for the public's faith in the legal system."
Q: You were in power for 12 years and never handled the issue.
"That criticism is justified. Things should have been done earlier, and for a variety of reasons, weren't. It doesn't make us exempt from the question of what next."
Q: Your comrades in the primaries used harsh terms – to 'run down' the legal system. One candidate showed up to Aharon Barak's home with a judge in tow. Is that what will happen?
"No one, not even the people who use that terminology, wants a country without courts, a prosecution, and police. So the terminology 'run down,' bring in a 'D9,' is inappropriate.
"Anyone seeking to change the legal system will be called an enemy of rule of law. There's not really a problem of style, but rather – essence."
Q: Could that wind up costing Netanyahu a severe sentence?
"I'm not waging war on the legal system, I'm fighting the rot that is growing in it. Things can be done differently, we had glory days of great legalists like Moshe Landau and Shimon Agranat, legal giants, who warned that politicization would bring down the legal system – and they were right."
When the Likud results were announced, some called the list a collection of "Netanyahu-ists," with his loyal followers in the top places.
"There is value to loyalty, loyalty isn't a bad word. Our loyalty is to the voters who chose Netanyahu – that's what they're looking for. Do they expect us to throw the voters to the dogs? That won't ever happen," Ohana says.
"This is a list that can wage a fight in the election campaign," he adds.
Q: Are we seeing a change of guard?
"This isn't a change of guard, but a change of ideas. This is a generation that isn't willing to bow its head to power, to the elites, unlike the previous generations."
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Q: Yuli Edelstein and Haim Katz were pushed down on the list. What does that mean?
"It teaches us all that we need to improve in our battle against the rot in the legal system."
Q: Is there any concern that the ones who were pushed down will set up their own faction?
"I hope that all the members will honor the voters' will. I expect everyone to be loyal to their voters."
Q: Are you worried that the hawkish position at the top of the list will deter moderate voters?
"The opposite. When we have a list of determined, strong, ideological [candidates,] it's more attractive to Israeli voters."
Q: Do the candidates at the top of the list indicate something about what will happen in the post-Netanyahu era?
"Anyone who talks about the post-Netanyahu era apparently wants that day to come. There are even some who are trying to make it happen. Likudniks don't like that, and I don't, either."
Q: When you were 18th on the list, you were made justice minister. What will you ask for now that you're in the fifth place?
"My friends are handing out jobs among themselves. I'm uncomfortable with that. First, we need to win the election, and then I'll meet with the head of the movement and tell him what roles interest me … Justice minister is a senior, important job … I expect to be in a senior role."
