A dispute over the Likud’s primary election rules intensified on Tuesday after the party’s Constitution Committee postponed a meeting despite a court-ordered deadline, prompting claims that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s close associates are withholding key legal information from him.

The committee had been ordered by the party’s internal court to convene by 1:00 p.m. Tuesday to discuss and approve the primary regulations. Instead, members were notified Monday night that the meeting had been postponed until Thursday due to the prime minister’s schedule.

The delay sparked criticism from petitioner Dor Harlev, a candidate in the Dan–Tel Aviv district, who argued that under Article 88 of the Likud constitution, Netanyahu has the authority to submit his proposed primary regulations directly to the Likud convention without waiting for approval from the Constitution Committee.

Harlev accused party officials of dragging out the process and claimed Netanyahu’s advisers are not informing him that he has the legal authority to bypass the committee.

According to reports, Netanyahu met Monday night with Constitution Committee chairman Chaim Katz at Katz’s home in Shoham, where the two reportedly reached understandings regarding reserved spots on the party’s candidate list.

Harlev has asked the party court to reject any further delays, arguing that previous court rulings already established a clear timetable for approving the primary rules ahead of the next Knesset elections. He maintains there is no need to wait for Thursday’s committee meeting and that Netanyahu can present his proposal directly to the Likud convention, which is scheduled to convene on Thursday.

The party court previously ruled that if the Constitution Committee failed to approve regulations by Tuesday afternoon, the 2022 primary rules could be brought before the convention for a vote, while allowing Netanyahu to submit his own proposal directly under the authority granted to him by the party constitution.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)