ISRAELI PRIME minister Binyamin Netanyahu was expected to win yesterday’s Likud party primary by a comfortable margin last night, fighting off a challenge from far-right contender Moshe Feiglin.
In the last primary in 2007, Mr Feiglin, a religious settler who heads the Jewish Leadership faction within the Likud, managed to win almost a quarter of the votes, and Mr Netanyahu yesterday warned against apathy, urging his supporters to vote to ensure a decisive victory.
Although the results were only due to be announced early this morning, Mr Netanyahu’s fifth primary victory as head of the Likud since 1993 was a foregone conclusion, cementing his position as the natural leader of the right in Israel.
His surprise announcement in December of a snap party leadership contest raised speculation in Israel that Mr Netanyahu (62) was contemplating calling an early general election, and would run for his third term as prime minister.
He remains popular in the polls, with the centre and left support divided between Labour, Kadima and a new party being set up by Yair Lapid, a popular television news show host who resigned last month to embark on a political career. But all the polls show a comfortable victory for a coalition of right-wing and religious parties, led by Mr Netanyahu as the head of the Likud.
The early Likud primary prompted Tzipi Livni, the leader of the opposition Kadima, to call a primary contest next month for her party. But whereas victory for Mr Netanyahu was assured, Ms Livni faces a close, and likely bitter, contest from former defence minister Shaul Mofaz.
Some analysts have argued that Mr Netanyahu will call an early general election because he wants to get the poll out of the way in order to concentrate on his top priority – ensuring Iran does not acquire a nuclear bomb.
However, Mr Netanyahu has remained tight-lipped and has not confirmed that he will indeed bring forward the election, which is still almost two years away.
Meanwhile, Israeli officials say that Israel must act by the summer if it wants to effectively attack Iran’s nuclear programme. Israeli officials maintain that all options remain on the table in order to prevent Iran obtaining a nuclear bomb.
The unnamed officials welcomed new international sanctions imposed by western states against Teheran but noted that the measures further constrained Israel’s ability to take military action – just as a window of opportunity is closing because Tehran is moving more of its installations underground.
President Shimon Peres said yesterday that Iran’s “evil” leaders cannot be allowed to obtain nuclear weapons. He said Iran’s contentious nuclear programme was “ours and the world’s central problem at this time”, accusing Iran of attempting to achieve regional and even global hegemony.
“Nuclear weapons mustn’t be allowed to fall into the hands of Iran’s ayatollah regime,” Mr Peres said, calling Iran’s religious leadership the “most morally corrupt regime in the world”.