Likudniks vow to take Netanyahu to court

By GIL STERN STERN HOFFMAN
Netanyahu gives speech 370 (photo credit: Moshe Milner GPO)
Netanyahu gives speech 370
(photo credit: Moshe Milner GPO)
The Likud’s election committee will convene Wednesday for a fateful meeting in which associates of the party’s chairman, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, will reveal for the first time how he intends to handle the internal elections for the party’s institutions.
The Tel Aviv District Court forced the Likud to initiate the elections after Netanyahu stalled them for more than a year. The election is expected to take place at a June 27 Likud convention – but it is still unclear – and Netanyahu could still try to find loopholes to prevent it from taking place.
Sources close to Netanyah hinted Tuesday that he may decide to only hold an election for the post of Likud convention chairman and not for the chairmanship of the powerful Likud central committee and the party’s ideological bureau. He may also try to prevent the convention from voting on constitutional changes, such as a merger with Yisrael Beytenu, which he supports but is not expected to pass.
Hundreds of Likud central committee members attended a rally at Tel Aviv’s Gallery Palace hall in which they warned Netanyahu not to take action that would minimize their power. They expressed frustration with the prime minister for his delaying tactics.
Likud central committee member Shai Galili, who was one of three activists who took the party to court, vowed to go back to Tel Aviv District Court Judge Hagai Brenner if the election committee makes an unsatisfactory decision Wednesday. He said he would ask Brenner to hold Netanyahu in contempt of court.
“We central committee members will no longer tolerate Netanyahu paralyzing the party’s institutions,” said Ma’aleh Adumim Likud activist Gidon Ariel, who took the party to court along with Galili. “We are elected officials in a democratic party and we won’t stand for this behavior anymore.”
MK Gila Gamliel wrote Netanyahu Tuesday urging him to delay the election to September, because Knesset members are too busy passing the state budget to mount a serious campaign for the chairmanship of party institutions.