Court issued an interim order, vote on reserving a spot for the Likud minister halted: "Claims of conflict of interest"
The Likud court issued an interim order halting the vote on reserving a spot for Haim Katz due to claims of a conflict of interest. Meanwhile, unrest in the ruling party is growing after another controversial move by Benjamin Netanyahu, and the battle for spots in the next Knesset is heating up. A new dilemma in the PM's circle: should they also reserve a spot for the deputy minister who resigned from Otzma Yehudit?
After another controversial move, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is now considering his next step. In his circle, they are debating whether to reserve a spot for Deputy Minister Almog Cohen, a former member of Otzma Yehudit, or let him run in the primaries after Netanyahu approved a "seniority shortening" for him in the party. In Likud, they promised Cohen a reserved spot at a very early stage of the term. The connection between the parties tightened after he broke factional discipline under Minister of National Security Itamar Ben Gvir and agreed to offset with Netanyahu when he underwent surgery.
Meanwhile, the Likud court issued an interim order and postponed the vote on the reserved spot for Minister Haim Katz.
The nightly reservation drama
Following a petition against Netanyahu's nightly power grab and the reservation of spots for ministers Israel Katz, Gideon Sa'ar, and Haim Katz, the court announced that while the claims regarding the first two are known and have already been approved, regarding the latter, "the petitioner's claims deserve clarification." Regarding Minister Katz, the petition claims "a conflict of interest and political consideration for the act of approving the reservations."
The decision stated that "in order to prevent claims of reliance, I order that the secretariat's vote on approving the reservation of Minister Haim Katz be postponed until another decision by the court. The movement's legal advisor and Minister Haim Katz will submit a response to the petition and the request for an interim order within 24 hours."
The crowded competition
Either way, out of the first 30 spots in Likud, which the ruling party marks as "realistic" after the elections, only 15 will likely be filled by current Knesset members. The immediate meaning is clear: more than half of the Likud members in the current Knesset will find themselves outside the next Knesset. The picture is much more problematic if you look at the polls of recent months, which predict only 21 to 24 mandates for Likud.
In closed rooms in Likud, sharp criticism is heard regarding the decision to reserve a spot for Minister of Defense Israel Katz on the grounds that he should be dealing with matters of state security. The request for the reservation was approved in the Likud court as early as August 2, but even after that, Katz published videos as part of his primary campaign, which caused a storm. According to sources in Likud, Katz exerted heavy pressure on Netanyahu to receive a reservation.
The only Knesset member so far who has spoken out publicly against the move is Tally Gotliv. She appealed to the Likud court with a request to discuss Katz's reservation once again, calling it a "disgraceful step that mocks Likud voters."
The arguments are a mystery
In the petition filed by Likud activist Aviad Visoly to the movement's court, he argued that the reservations for ministers Sa'ar and Katz should come at the expense of Prime Minister Netanyahu's quota. In its decision, the court explained that regarding the Minister of Defense's reservation, the decision was made "for weighty reasons," while regarding Minister Sa'ar, it determined that "this is not actually a reservation, but a joint run of two factions."
The court noted that things are different regarding Katz: "Minister Katz registered as a candidate to run in the primaries. He is therefore in the midst of an election campaign, so the secretariat's approval now could raise a claim of reliance on the part of Minister Katz. I am confident that there are weighty reasons that motivated the movement's chairman to decide on the reservation of Minister Haim Katz, however, unlike the situation with the decisions regarding the reservations of ministers Sa'ar and Israel Katz, these reasons are a mystery at this time."
