Several senior Likud officials are pressuring Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to announce on Tuesday evening that Yoseph Haddad will be given a reserved spot on the Likud’s Knesset list, amid concerns that he could instead join a new party being formed by Brig.-Gen. (res.) Ofer Winter and deepen a split in the right-wing vote.

The pressure on Netanyahu stems from growing concern within Likud over the formation of a new political framework to its right. According to party officials, bringing Haddad into Likud is intended not only to add a well-known public figure to the list, but also to prevent him from joining Winter and strengthening a party that could compete for the same pool of voters.

The concern is not merely theoretical. Haddad is behind an application to register a new party called “Brave Israel,” although his name does not appear in the registration documents. Haddad has been holding talks about joining forces with Winter, who has been working in recent months to establish an independent political platform.

Haddad himself has previously made clear that he is considering entering politics.

At the same time, Winter is moving forward with his political plans and intends to announce the formation of a party in the near future. If he runs in the election, he intends to do so independently rather than join an existing party.

Talks between Winter and Haddad are continuing, and political figures are waiting to see whether they will lead to an alliance between the two.

Likud fears votes could be lost below electoral threshold

Likud officials are particularly concerned about a scenario in which a party led by Winter draws votes away from Likud and other parties on the Right but fails to cross the electoral threshold, thereby weakening the entire bloc.

Those concerns were also reflected this week in polls examining Winter’s electoral potential, which have indicated that a Winter-led party could draw support from parties on the Right.

This post was originally published on here.