Member of Knesset Nir Barkat (Likud) has expressed support for Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, telling the Tax Consultants' Conference in Eilat, Sunday evening, "We must gather at the side of the prime minister, who is a tremendous asset to the state and the Likud, to allow him to prove his innocence, not to determine his verdict, and certainly in the face of serious failures in the investigation, which demand thorough and profound treatment, to remember the line of public figures who were completely acquitted in court."
Noting calls for Likud primaries, among other things, Barkat also said, "The national responsibility of the movement, as a ruling party that has navigated the State of Israel for most of its years in general and during this challenging period in particular, requires us to thwart attempts at divisiveness from within and without, to create governmental continuity and leadership vision for the party, with full support of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu as far as the law and rulings allow, and to stand firm in realizing the will of the movement and the one who heads it to establish a national unity government."