Netanyahu: Likud goal is 40 seats

Thirty-five seats is a reasonable expectation for Likud in the next general election, and 40 is the goal, Prime Minister and Likud leader Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday, in an address to the party’s municipal candidates at Ramat Gan’s Kfar Hamaccabiah Hotel.

Netanyahu told the candidates he did not know when the general election would take place, amid a dispute over the haredi conscription bill that he has said could advance the race. But he said he was sure the Likud would succeed.

“We will do that thanks to the extraordinary support we receive from the Israeli public, which sees our great accomplishments,” Netanyahu said.

The Likud currently has 30 seats in the Knesset; the latest poll predicted 33 for the party.

Meretz leader Tamar Zandberg responded that Netanyahu would not lead the Likud in the next election due to his criminal probes – especially Case 4000, in which he is accused of aiding businessman Shaul Elovich, who owned both the Bezeq phone company and the Walla news site, in return for positive coverage in the latter.

“Netanyahu will soon see that no one is immune,” Zandberg said. “The public will stop forgiving their corrupt prime minister, who divides the citizens for his narrow political considerations and lets extremists run his government. This arrogance will lead to his downfall. The prime minister will soon see that 4000 is more than 40.”