David Bitan
David BitanYonatan Sindel/Flash90

MK David Bitan (Likud) told Hadashot Haboker that he opposes the initiative to hold Likud primaries.

"I am against primaries now - there is no need for it," he said. "The leader of the opposition is [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu. There is no question about that. He has no need to determine anything. Primaries cost a lot of money."

When asked how the Likud made it into the opposition after so many years in power, Bitan said: "In these elections we reached an achievement: 30 seats. The Right received 65 seats. We did not form a government because of two deserters from the right-wing bloc, [Yamina Chairman MK Naftali] Bennett and [New Hope Chairman MK Gideon] Sa'ar."

"Mistakes were made, I've said that in the past as well - I'm not running away from this issue. You forgot that Netanyahu brought the Likud control for 12 years. We can be in the opposition. We don't see that as a disaster - we will very quickly return to power."

Regarding the negotiations between the Likud and the United Arab List (Ra'am), Bitan said: "That's a fabrication. Bennett, [Yesh Atid Chairman MK Yair] Lapid, and Sa'ar are spin experts. We did not approve anyone."

He added that MK Saeed Alkharumi (United Arab List) "explicitly says that no negotiations were held and that nothing was agreed on. Yes we held talks with [United Arab List Chairman MK Mansour] Abbas on a specific issue, that's something that's accepted in the Knesset."

"We did not want to form a government with him, we did not give him the Negev, we did not give him a new Palestinian Arab state in the Negev. They shouldn't make an issue of the talks that were held with the Likud, that's a spin."