MK Danny Danon (Likud) says he intends to fight any attempt to induct Defense Minister Ehud Barak into the Likud.
"In February I will run for the presidium of the convention in order to stop Defense Minister Barak from joining the Likud," Danon told Arutz Sheva during an interview about the upcoming Likud primaries.
"We don't want Barak in the Likud," Danon said. "The same defense minister who said he would have joined Hamas if he was a Palestinian - his place is not in the Likud."
"I will do everything in my power to stop Barak from joining the Likud," Danon said.
Rumors that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu would secure Barak a quota-slot on the Likud parliamentary in order to provide his former commander in the elite Matkal commando unit with a political safety net have been circulating for weeks.
Barak, who broke away from the Labor party with five Knesset members to form his Independence faction, has found himself on tenuous ground. His new party has yet to poll well enough to be seated in the next Knesset were elections to be held.
Netanyahu denied he would give Barak a slot – adding that inducting Barak to the Likud would have to be approved by the party's faction members and central committee.