Likud activists flanking PM at presser had been summoned to get their pay

Dozens of activists received a text message from the Likud mayor of Petah Tikva’s assistant last Friday ordering them to show up to the faction’s headquarters in the town the next evening if they wanted to receive payment for the work clocked-in on election day.

The message uncovered by the Ha-Makom news site did not specify that the Likud activists would be arriving in time for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s “emergency gathering” at which the premier warned the public against attempts by rivals in the Blue and White and Yisrael Beytenu parties to “steal the elections through deceit and anti-democratic legislation.”

Flanked by supporters, including activists who had received the text message from the mayor’s assistant, Netanyahu said he had forgone holding a mass rally and was instead broadcasting to some 16 smaller events throughout the country due to Health Ministry warnings against large gatherings amid the coronavirus scare.

Several activists who spoke to Ha-Makom said they were shocked to learn that the text had been used to draw them to the press conference where they were ordered to stand behind Netanyahu as he spoke. They said they didn’t receive their paychecks for the election day work until after the press conference was finished.

A source close to Petah Tikva mayor Rami Greenberg, who chaired the Likud’s election branch in the town, told the news site that while the message ordering the activists to arrive at the party headquarters on Saturday evening could have been better worded, there was no implication that those who did not show up would not be paid at all.

The Likud party declined to comment on the report.