Likud comptroller protests expensive Netanyahu lawyer

Galili says the Likud should not need to pay for a pricey external lawyer, because the party employs a full-time attorney.

By GIL STERN STERN HOFFMAN
Benyamin Netanyahu faction meeting (photo credit: KNESSET CHANNEL)
Benyamin Netanyahu faction meeting
(photo credit: KNESSET CHANNEL)
The Likud’s internal comptroller, attorney Shai Galili, wrote party director-general Gadi Arieli Monday complaining about Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s hiring of celebrated attorney Ya’acov Weinroth to represent him in his Supreme Court case against the head of the Likud central committee, Deputy Defense Minister Danny Danon.
The court had ruled in favor of Netanyahu in the case, permitting the prime minister to set the agenda for the next Likud convention on March 23 and overturning a Tel Aviv District Court decision in Danon’s favor.
Galili wrote Arieli asking what the party paid for the services of Weinroth, who is considered one of Israel’s most expensive attorneys. He said the Likud should not need to pay for an external lawyer, because the party employs a full-time attorney, Avi Halevy.
A Likud spokeswoman responded that Netanyahu hired Weinroth because Halevy had been overworked by the large number of appeals inside Likud courts related to the convention. She said Weinroth was also hired to help Halevy because Netanyahu’s Supreme Court case had to be prepared quickly.
Halevy was back at an internal Likud court Tuesday, dealing with an appeal over procedural matters related to the convention submitted by the two heads of the Likud branch in Judea and Samaria, Shevach Stern and Natan Engelsman.