Binyamin Netanyahu
Binyamin NetanyahuEmil Salman/Flash90

As debate rages in Likud over changing the party's primaries system, senior sources in the ruling party are continuing to seek ways to limit Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's power.

The sources are advancing a bill to limit the term of the Israeli Prime Minister to either eight years or three terms - Netanyahu has just begun his fourth term, having served as prime minister a cumulative total of over nine years.

The bill is expected to be presented by a Likud MK placed among the last ten of Likud's 30 seat party list, or else by a coalition MK outside of Likud.

In a similar move, MK Merav Michaeli of the leftist Labor party submitted a bill to limit the prime minister to two terms just half a year ago, in which it was written, "there is great importance in democratic rule that the people standing at the head of the system be changed, so as to prevent atrophy and cutoff (from the public - ed.)."

"Democracy is not monarchy, and it is vital that a rule of many long years in the hands of one person not be established," wrote Michaeli. It is unclear whether she will have an opportunity to raise the bill for a vote in the current Knesset.

While Michael hails from the opposition Labor party, the new bill comes from within the ruling Likud party, likely giving it a higher chance of succeeding. It remains unclear what practical ramifications if any the bill may bear for Netanyahu's current term.

On a related issue, Arutz Sheva has learned that members of the Likud constitutional committee were ordered to hold an urgent meeting. It is likely that the meeting is meant to discuss how to block MK David Amsalem's proposal to the Likud central committee to change the primaries system, so as to shift control to the committee and away from the prime minister.

In addition there are two other proposals raised by Likud MKs to limit the party chairman's power.

One asks that a chairman who has been selected three times - as Netanyahu has been - will have to receive 50% of the primaries vote in order to be selected a fourth time.

The other proposal seeks to establish that a chairman who is selected twice will need a 60% majority in order to be selected for a third time.