Likud opposition party leader Binyamin Netanyahu seems to have fallen on good times with a list of notables knocking on his door to join the party.

Undoubtedly, leading the list is Sunday’s announced return of Dr. Binyamin Begin, the son of the late prime minister, who is viewed by the entire nation as a man of principle and ideals, a man who represents clean ethical politics, a scholar and an idealist. His return political analysts agree is a major boost to the party.

Other notables announcing their intentions to run for a slot on the Likud lineup include a former IDF spokeswomen, Brigadier-General (reserves) Miri Regev; Daniel Seaman, the current head of the Government Press Office; former IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. (reserves) Moshe Ya’alon and Dan Meridor, a former Likud prince, who left to join the now-defunct Merkaz Party.

Meridor, like Begin, has deep revisionist roots. He was first elected to Knesset in 1984. Over the years, his political views become more centrist, leaving the ideology of Ze’ev Jabotinsky according to his critics, especially regarding a Greater Eretz Yisrael. Nonetheless, in the eyes of the mainstream centrist right-wing voter he is an asset.

Polls released last week showed Likud and Kadima in a deadlock but the new lineup may indeed bring Netanyahu over the top towards once again becoming the nation’s prime minister.

(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)