Members of an internal Likud party forum – HaMateh HaLeumi [the nationalist forum] – issued a call Sunday to fellow Likud members not to vote in the upcoming primaries. By boycotting the primaries, they explained, the members would weaken Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu – a fate he deserves in view of his treatment of the community of Migron.
The signed a petition that said: "This time – vote from the couch! Don’t participate in the election for the movement's leader!"
The petition blames Netanyahu for preventing a vote in the cabinet on a bill that would legalize Migron, because he knows that the bill would receive a majority of favorable votes. "Unfortunately, Netanyahu is giving free rein to Ehud Barak, to carry out a 'Peace Now' policy against Jews who settle in their land. This is not the policy of Likud and the national camp."
Natan Engelsman, one of the founders of the HaMateh HaLeumi, explained that "the only way to have influence next week is to stay home, and deliver a message to Netanyahu that way… Netanyahu will be elected anyway, but we at least hope that our message will seep in and influence his actions from now on."