‘Reservists’ party accuses Likud of pressuring registrar to block its registration

The HaMiluimnikim (“The Reservists”) Party accuses Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ruling Likud party of pressuring the state registrar to withhold final approval for the new faction’s registration.

According to the party, Likud first petitioned the registrar to prevent the use of the name “HaMiluimnikim,” and is now “pressuring the registrar to disqualify the Reservists’ name and block the final stage of registration.”

The registrar, under Justice Minister Yariv Levin, has been delaying the final stage of registration beyond the legal 30-day deadline, the party claims, describing it as “an attempt to silence criticism and harm the party’s ability to compete fairly.”

HaMiluimnikim calls the move “unprecedented,” noting that no governing party has ever filed an objection to another party’s name or sought to block the registration of a competitor in this manner.

Neither Likud nor Levin respond to a request for comment.

“Despite the registrar’s commitment to comply with the timeline dictated by law, it has recently become clear that he is delaying his response,” the party says.

“Likud’s petition is a direct continuation of the all-out war the ruling party is waging against reservists in the Knesset and in the government,” says HaMiluimnikim chairman and former communications minister Yoaz Hendel.

“The ruling party, which talks endlessly about the ‘deep state’ and the [judiciary] as an excuse for all their failures, is now using those same tools to harm democratic competition,” he adds.

The dispute emerges as the Knesset debates the government’s latest conscription bill for yeshiva students, proposed by Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee chairman Boaz Bismuth, which HaMiluimnikim fiercely opposes and which has met widespread condemnation, including from within Likud itself.