The Nationalist Camp, an influential pressure group of Likud activists,
encouraged Habayit Hayehudi members to vote in the Likud primary on Sunday,
although it is illegal to be a member of two parties.
In an email to
Shiloh residents, where National Camp leaders Natan Englesman and Shevach Stern
reside, the two listed the candidates they think would best represent the
interests of those who support and live in Judea and Samaria, such as Manhigut
Yehudit leader Moshe Feiglin, Public Diplomacy and Diaspora Affairs Minister
Yuli Edelstein, coalition chairman Ze’ev Elkin, MKs Tzipi Hotovely, Yariv Levin,
Haim Katz and others.
“Even if you were a member of Likud until recently
and moved to Habayit Hayehudi, there is a good chance that you still have the
right to participate in [the primary] of the ruling party in the next Knesset,”
the email reads.
It is illegal to be a member of more than one party and,
according to the law, it is the individual’s responsibility to leave a party
when he or she joins another.
The Justice Ministry compared lists of
several political parties on October 28, and found that 2,800 people are members
of both Likud and Habayit Hayehudi, according to a report by political blogger
and former Ma’ariv reporter Tal Schneider. Another 500 were found to be members
of both Likud and Labor.
The ministry added that the names and identification numbers were sent to the political parties.
Englesman said
he saw no problem with those who voted in the Habayit Hayehudi primary
participating in Sunday’s Likud vote.
“I don’t see how it is
illegal. These people have a chance to make a decision and
vote. If they were Likud members in recent years, they have the right to
vote,” he said.
The National Camp leader explained that someone who voted
in the Habayit Hayehudi primary, but never left Likud, could cancel his
membership in the former and vote in the latter’s primary.
“If the person
makes that decision, they have the legal right to vote,” he added.
He did
not respond to the fact that those people have broken the law for several
months, regardless of their status on Sunday.