Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is planning to move up the Likud Party's leadership primaries and to hold them in just a few months. That’s what senior party officials claim, despite denials issued by Netanyahu’s office over the last few days.

According to senior Likud officials, Netanyahu would like to hold the primaries in early 2014, preferably January or February. The reason for the move is to establish his status as chairman of the movement and to free himself from the burden of internal party politics, which could weigh him down throughout his tenure as prime minister.

If Netanyahu does move up the primaries, it would be the third time he's employed such a move since 2007, when he surprised rival Silvan Shalom (the current minister for regional development) and announced a flash primary election. Shalom withdrew his candidacy as a result and claimed that Netanyahu was running the Likud like the Baath party in Syria. The second time was in December 2011, right after the deal over abducted Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, when public support for Netanyahu was at its peak. This ensured him an easy victory with a huge margin over now-Knesset member Moshe Feiglin.

In both those instances, Netanyahu essentially ran against himself, as he faced no significant opponent. He did it at a time when he felt especially strong within the Likud, and took advantage of the opportunity to clear the internal elections from the agenda. This allowed him to focus on national politics and on his responsibilities as prime minister.