Shaked
ShakedFlash 90

During the Passover holiday, Ayelet Shaked met with Natan Eshel, a member of the Likud's negotiation team and close confidant of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, according to The Marker, an Israeli business newspaper.

Shaked and Eshel both declined to comment on the meeting. However, since Shaked was not voted into the 21st Knesset, which was sworn in last week, it's likely that the meeting centered on Shaked joining the Likud, a move which would help propel her back into the political arena through the right's largest party.

Ten years ago, Shaked and Naftali Bennett left their positions in Netanyahu's office when he served as chairman of the opposition. It's an open secret that their relationship with the Netanyahus was strained. Channel 2 News reported earlier this year that Shaked said in internal talks that there was no possibility of her joining the Likud since Netanyahu would not allow it. However, Natan Eshel is capable of smoothing things over between her and the Netanyahu family, which could pave the path to her return to the Likud.

According to The Marker, another obstacle to Shaked joining the Likud is the amount of time required by a new member of the party to wait before running for a seat on the Knesset list - currently three years. Netanyahu's willingness to shorten the time period is a must in order for Shaked to agree to the move.