High-profile case8/15/2026

Likud Court President Admitted That the Party Constitution Was Bypassed to Advance Netanyahu’s Decisions

The president of Likud’s internal court, Michael Kleiner, said that the court had in the past found “creative” procedures for decisions that helped Benjamin Netanyahu, even though they did not fully comply with the party constitution. The latest case concerns exempting Israel Katz and Haim Katz from the primaries and reserving places for them on the slate.

Key facts

•Body: Likud’s internal court
•Court president: Michael Kleiner
•Publication: August 14, 2026
•Two reserved places: Israel Katz and Haim Katz
•For Israel Katz — a place no lower than sixth
•The case number is not stated in the source

What Happened

Netanyahu sent the Likud Court a confidential letter asking it to reserve Defense Minister Israel Katz a place no lower than sixth on the party slate for the 26th Knesset elections. The request remained confidential, and a week later Netanyahu publicly announced the reservation of two places for Israel Katz and party convention chairman Haim Katz.

Why the Court Approved

According to Kleiner, Likud legal adviser Ilan Bombach explained that, due to the special security circumstances, the defense minister could not conduct a normal primary-election campaign. Kleiner also noted that the minister’s participation in political events during such a period could be received negatively by the public and harm the party. He declined to disclose details of the security considerations.

The Role of the Party Constitution

Kleiner said that in previous disputes the court had found various procedures, including opinion polls among party members, to give a democratic character to steps that did not fully comply with the Likud constitution. However, he stressed that the court does not always support Netanyahu: in the past, the court prevented a proposal from being brought before the party convention that would have allowed the party chairman, under a certain security circumstance, to form an appointments committee on his own instead of holding primaries.

What Is Known About the Decision

The source states that Netanyahu’s confidential request was accepted, but it does not provide a case number, the full text of the decision, or the date it was issued. It also does not state whether objections from party members were discussed before the public announcement. The matter concerns decisions by an internal party court, not an official court in Israel.

What this means for you

For Likud members, this means that the party leadership and the internal court can use special procedures to alter the usual course of the primaries, based, among other things, on security circumstances. However, the precise limits of these powers or the appeal procedures cannot be determined from this publication because the official text of the decision is not included.

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