Khaberni - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has begun planning a "purge" campaign against his opponents within his party, aiming this time at the supervisory and judicial institutions within "Likud".
The newspaper "Yedioth Ahronoth" reported that Netanyahu decided to take advantage of the opportunity following the party convention elections, and take a step forward in the confrontation to silence internal criticisms.
It added that after the party's leadership decided to cease cooperation with "Likud" ombudsman, Shay Glili, following his publication of several critical reports, Netanyahu plans to take control of the position of head of this institution, alongside the position of head of the party's judicial authority, led by Michael Kleiner.
Sources within the party said: "They are both strongly opposed to Netanyahu. The head of the court acted on his own without consulting senior (Likud) officials who criticized Netanyahu. As for the ombudsman (Likud), he conducted investigations and published reports that were not within his jurisdiction."
In closed discussions, Netanyahu's associates claimed that these two bodies showed "excessive independence" and even "confrontation" towards Netanyahu, through the publication of internal audit reports and judicial decisions of the court. Netanyahu has decided to replace the Likud comptroller and the head of the court, following the internal elections for the "Likud" conference held about two weeks ago.
According to the party's constitution, elections will be held approximately 90 days from the general conference elections, for the main positions in the party: the head of the central committee, the head of the general secretariat, and the office head. During the electoral process, "Likud" institutions can replace the Likud comptroller, and the head of the party court.
Sources in "Likud" claimed that Netanyahu has long sought to replace them, although these two bodies are supposed to be completely independent, and both the Likud ombudsman and the head of the court have published reports or decisions that contradicted the position of the party leader and embarrassed him.
Glili is considered a harsh critic, who did not hesitate to confront Netanyahu and his supporters in "Likud", and published several reports criticizing the distribution of salaries of the Prime Minister's assistants in "Likud", while the "Likud" court showed its independence.
For example, Kleiner confirmed the legal difficulty in dismissing former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant from "Likud" despite the opinion presented by the legal advisor to the party and close to Netanyahu, lawyer Avi Halevy, and expressed strong support for Gallant's dismissal.
The court has been discussing the request to expel Gallant from "Likud" for months, but currently refuses to decide on the case. Before the Likud conference, the court made several decisions that hurt the party leadership.
A source in "Likud" said: "They destroyed us with their decisions that followed various petitions that were submitted, and made it difficult to hold the conference." And one of Netanyahu's assistants confirmed that the Prime Minister is working on replacing both, and justified this by saying: "We in (Likud) demand governance. It is unreasonable for this not even to be in our party."
