Deputy head of the Likud’s Young Guard, Yoel Nagar, didn’t think he was doing anything wrong when he attended a meeting Sept. 2 in Ramallah with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Nagar, 33, accepted an invitation from Abbas’ office, saying that the Palestinian leader wanted to meet with Israelis. While most participants at the meeting identified with the left and were members of the Peace Now movement, Nagar and another member of the Likud thought that this would be a good chance to hear the other side for themselves.

What happened just a few hours later lies somewhere in the realm between the ridiculous and the disturbing. At the same time, it offers a glimpse into the rapid process of radicalization taking place in the Likud. Nagar received a phone call from David Shain, the chairman of the Young Guard, informing him that because of his meeting with Abbas, he had been removed from his position.

In an interview with Al-Monitor, Nagar claimed that Shain explained to him that his meeting with Abbas posed a big problem for him as chairman of the Likud’s Young Guard, and that he had to make some operative move to counter it. If he didn't, Shain said, he would pay a steep political price when competing in the Likud primaries.

Shain made no effort to keep the dismissal of his deputy low-key, and even published a statement saying that the meeting with Abbas crossed a red line. In media interviews, Shain explained that Israelis consider Abbas to be an irrelevant factor, who recently expressed anti-Semitic views and denied the Holocaust. As a result, "one who has a position in the Likud Youth cannot join under any circumstances a meeting with a man like that," Shain added.