A meeting between Dimona Mayor Benny Biton and former IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot is drawing attention in the Likud stronghold, as local figures point to early signs of shifting political sentiment in the southern city.

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu received a positive but somewhat subdued welcome at this week’s Negev Conference in Dimona. Michal Elmalem Abu, a former Likud city councilwoman who has joined Eisenkot and now heads the local branch of his Yashar party, said the atmosphere was noticeably different from previous years.

Elmalem Abu said she sees no conflict between supporting Eisenkot and maintaining a close working relationship with Biton. She previously served two terms on the Dimona City Council and said Biton asked her to join him ahead of the last municipal election. She declined, explaining that she would not return to Likud.

“I support Benny; he is doing an excellent job,” she said. Elmalem Abu added that she backed Eisenkot when his party was polling at only five seats. When she informed Biton of her decision, she said he reacted warmly despite having wanted her to run alongside him.

“He said he loves Gadi and respects me and my decision,” she recalled. “That is the greatness of leadership. He said he understood it. At the same time, I will stand beside him whenever necessary.”

Elmalem Abu said Biton and Eisenkot have met twice, including after a missile struck Dimona. “He is very caring. You recognize that very quickly,” she said of Eisenkot.

Elmalem Abu, 55, is deputy chairwoman of the Histadrut’s Negev district and chief executive of the cultural centers in southern Israel. She has three children—two sons and a daughter who serves as a career officer in the IDF Intelligence Directorate.

Reflecting on Netanyahu’s reception at the Negev Conference, she said there was “really something that was not as it had been before.”

“I have managed this venue for years. This time it was truly unusual,” she said. “Dimona is a Likud city. The mayor is strongly committed to it and is very dominant. But something is developing here. It stands out particularly in Dimona because of the city’s political identity.”

Elmalem Abu said she does not expect Dimona to completely reverse its longstanding political allegiance anytime soon. “It will take several generations, but this is the beginning of a change, and people understand that,” she said.

As head of Yashar’s Dimona branch, Elmalem Abu organized a party gathering attended by Eisenkot. She said more than 300 people attended, noting that all 300 chairs were occupied and additional participants stood along the walls.

Senior figures in Dimona also believe Eisenkot is gaining substantial support in the city. One local official said that although Netanyahu’s supporters publicly chant “Only Bibi,” some may vote for Eisenkot once they are alone behind the ballot-box curtain.

“It is a question of identity—Moroccan, the Moroccan language, the development town where he was born, the development city where he grew up, traditional, a bereaved father, and a man who wore a uniform for more than 40 years,” the official said.

Biton’s associates confirmed that he met Eisenkot in his office. Biton has a broad political history: In the 1998 municipal election, he ran against late Likud politician Gabi Lalush. A year later, he was placed 12th on Yitzhak Mordechai’s party slate, which competed against Likud. He later joined Ehud Barak, entered Likud in 2011, and has served as Dimona’s mayor on the party’s behalf since 2013.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)