Netanyahu Wins Appeal on Likud Elections

The Netanyahu campaign cleared away a roadblock to the prime minister’s re-election as the Tel Aviv District Court rejected an appeal by Likud  opponents to postpone the party’s leadership and Knesset primary scheduled for Wednesday.

The decision handed down by Judge Michal Agmon-Gonen means Likud members will vote for both the Knesset list and Likud chairman on the same day, as Netanyahu wanted, unless a further appeal to the Supreme Court goes their way. But a source close to Likud central committee members who filed the appeal told The Jerusalem Post that they will probably let the matter rest at this point.

On another battlefront, Netanyahu’s forces are fighting in Likud’s internal courts for his right to name his own candidates for two realistic slots on the party list in the March 17 general election.

Meanwhile, Likud picked up a senior political player, former Minister and Shin Bet director Avi Dichter, who announced on Monday his return to politics, running in the Likud primaries.

Dichter left Kadima in 2012 to join Likud and, after briefly serving until March 2013 as Home Front Command Minister, took time out from politics.

Dichter says he has been building support in the Likud through several “headquarters” ahead of the 2015 elections.

When asked about his political program, he described himself as “center-right,” which, he acknowledged, includes acceptance of the two-state solution.

This article appeared in print on page 6 of the December 30th, 2014 edition of Hamodia.