Netanyahu devoted part of his time to managing the war on Gaza to meet with members of the Knesset to ensure that they would not join the coup against him, following deliberations in the Likud about withdrawing confidence from him and nominating Edelstein to temporarily head the government.

It seems that the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, is not entirely preoccupied with managing the war on Gaza, and that he devotes part of his time to his political survival. Therefore, in recent days, he has devoted himself to holding “personal meetings” with Knesset members from the Likud Party to prevent “ A coup” he expects against him.

The goal of these meetings, according to what the Ynet website reported today, Monday, is to seek to consolidate his position within Likud and learn about the atmosphere within the party, against the backdrop of the war on Gaza and its demand to bear personal responsibility for the security failure that led to the success of the attack by Hamas fighters in  the envelope of Gaza, on October 7th.

Ynet reported that secret deliberations took place in recent days within Likud about the “day after” the war. A Likud leader was quoted as saying that the possibility of overthrowing Netanyahu is being studied, through a vote in the Knesset General Assembly on a draft law to remove confidence in him, and putting forward the name of another Knesset member from Likud to form a government without holding general elections.

One of the names being put forward in these deliberations is the head of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Security Committee, Yuli Edelstein, to be appointed interim prime minister until a new Likud president is elected.

Netanyahu met alone with Likud Knesset members last Friday, including Kate Sheetrit, Dan Illouz, Hanoch Milevitsky and Boaz Bismuth.

Ynet quoted an informed Likud source as saying, "Netanyahu is afraid of the rhetoric about replacing him and wants to make sure that no one joins the coup against him."

He added, "Netanyahu wants to 'feel the pulse' of Likud. He is passing on two central messages, which sound like his upcoming election campaign: I pledge to continue fighting until the end; and he is the only one who will prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state."

The same source continued that during personal meetings with members of the Knesset, “the feeling was that it should be directed towards elections immediately after the war.”

Regarding the possibility of Netanyahu stepping down from his position after the war, one of the Knesset members who met with him said, “This is not at all on his agenda. Even a D9 bulldozer will not budge him.”