Likud comptroller seeks to bar Ya’alon from next Knesset

A day after he sought to disqualify Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from running for the Likud party’s leadership primary next week, the Likud comptroller on Thursday indicated he would also seek to nix Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon’s Knesset candidacy.

The comptroller’s decisions are being challenged by other Likud officials, however, and are set to be overruled.

The ruling party’s ombudsman, Shai Galili, on Thursday invited Ya’alon to a hearing. He alleges that Ya’alon utilized a Defense Ministry employee for personal political gain, Israel Radio reported. According to Maariv, Ya’alon would have the employee communicate on his behalf with party officials.

Ya’alon denied the allegations of misconduct and said the comptroller had no grounds to disqualify him. “According to the Likud regulations, the comptroller has no authority to call a candidate to a hearing or to nullify their candidacy, and therefore it’s puzzling that the comptroller is dealing with issues that are outside his authority and acting in an unreasonable way,” Ya’alon said, according to Maariv, echoing the prime minister’s rejection of Galili’s dramatic moves.

Netanyahu has appealed to the Likud’s internal Elections Committee to overturn Galili’s decision, “while simultaneously proclaiming that the [comptroller’s] decision was made without authority.”

Galili on Wednesday disqualified Netanyahu from running for the party leadership, in a move that, if it stood, would prevent the prime minister from competing for another term. However, the party’s Elections Committee chairman said the comptroller had no authority to take that step.

Galili cited Netanyahu’s alleged misuse of party funds and other property to advance his candidacy.

Netanyahu’s attorney, however, insisted that Galili had overstepped his authority, setting up a legal battle. Other Likud sources also downplayed the significance of Galili’s move.

“The decision by political operator Galili is absurd, [it is] based on outside considerations and lacks all validity,” Netanyahu’s primary campaign said in a statement.

In a letter to Netanyahu’s attorney, Galili detailed Netanyahu’s reported use of Likud headquarters to promote his campaign for the party leadership. He added that Netanyahu had also posted a speech of his on the Likud website, which runs against party bylaws.

“I am aware of the fact that this is the disqualification of a sitting prime minister and that this disqualification could cause political and monetary damage to the party,” Galili wrote. “However, I cannot weigh these considerations among other deliberations in the balance since they are considered extraneous considerations.”

Menachem Ne’eman, the chairman of the Likud Elections Committee, said the comptroller did not have the authority to make his decision and accused Galili of causing immense damage to the party.

“When we stand ahead of internal primaries, in which we have already invested a fortune, and as we rigorously campaign against the other parties, the mere consideration of disqualifying Netanyahu causes untold harm,” Ne’eman wrote in a statement.

“Such a decision on disqualification is completely contrary to the will of all eligible voters — both those who are preparing to vote for Netanyahu and those who are preparing to vote for [leadership challenger MK] Danny Danon.”

Ne’eman concluded that he believed the comptroller could not enforce an exclusion of the prime minister from the primary ballot. “I do not think this decision is valid, because it was given without any authority,” Ne’eman wrote.

Netanyahu is set to compete against Danon for the party’s leadership on December 31.

Galili argued that the Political Party Law explicitly permitted him to disqualify Netanyahu, Haaretz reported.

“If the body authorized by the party — or in the absence of such a body, the audit institution — has concluded that a candidate did not follow a directive in this section, it is entitled to, among other things, disqualify the candidacy, and if he or she was elected to head the party, [the body] may cancel the elections,” Galili quoted from subsection 28 of the Political Party Law.

Adiv Sterman, Haviv Rettig-Gur and Joshua Davidovich contributed to this report.