Likud Court Rebukes Leadership Over Primary Rules; Emergency Hearing Looms

Hours before the Likud Constitution Committee was due to meet, Attorney Yitzhak Bam — a judge on the party's highest internal court — issued a sharp directive criticizing the committee's handling of the primary-rules process. Bam ordered the party's legal adviser to file a response by 3 p.m. on Monday and left open the possibility of convening an emergency hearing that evening.

Three Petitions Raise Alarms

The court action followed three petitions filed within 24 hours. One petition, brought by Yehuda Sharper through attorney Harel Arnon, asks the court to delay the vote on the primary rules. A second, filed by MK David Bitan via attorney Yifat Yefet-Meirovitz, challenges the draft rules he submitted, seeks a postponement and disputes whether former New Hope members may participate. A third petition from Tzvial Rubin, represented by attorney Aviad Reichman, demands that the 2022 primary rules be included among the options presented to the convention.

“Despite the court's decision... the Constitution Committee has still not completed its work,” Bam wrote. “We have reached July 13, and there is no draft rules proposal, and the Constitution Committee meeting is scheduled for midday. It is difficult to accept this reality. The convention is the body that approves the rules, and not a blank stamp.”

Key Legal Questions

Bam criticized the committee for not publishing draft rules in time to give delegates adequate review. The court asked the party’s legal adviser to address several questions by the 3 p.m. deadline, including whether the convention could:

The Likud Constitution Committee, headed by the Chairman of the Likud Central Committee, Chairman of the Constitution Committee, Minister Haim Katz, has now convened announcing that the date of the primaries will be held on: 4.8.2026 (credit: Office of Haim Katz)

• Default to the 2022 primary rules if the Constitution Committee does not finish its work on time;
• Consider proposals the committee did not examine;
• Vote on individual disputed issues (for example, reserved slots for the party chairman or rules on incumbent Knesset members running in district races) rather than approving or rejecting complete packages;
• Accept Bitan’s proposal directly to the convention if the Constitution Committee declines to discuss it.

Bitan's Proposal And The Reserved-Slots Debate

Bitan’s draft calls for open primaries among all party members, division of the country into nine electoral districts and five reserved slots for the party chairman (Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu) at positions 2, 6, 16, 39 and 48 on the party list. It also proposes mechanisms to ensure female representation across the top deciles and other representation safeguards. Bitan’s petition additionally asks for a postponement and challenges the eligibility of former New Hope members to vote in the convention — an issue that could materially affect the electorate and the outcome.

Bam returned to a longer-running controversy over the chairman’s reserved slots, warning that while past disputes focused on the number of protected positions, the practice itself may raise constitutional concerns. He said the chairman’s quota has grown with each primary cycle and might conflict with the Likud constitution, which operates under the national Parties Law. "I fear the line has been crossed," Bam wrote, signaling the court may eventually require a formal constitutional amendment if the quota is expanded further.

Immediate Impact And Next Steps

The court did not halt the Constitution Committee’s work or issue an injunction. Instead, it ordered the movement’s legal adviser to respond to all petitions by 3 p.m. Monday and instructed the parties to be prepared for an emergency Zoom hearing that evening. The dispute comes as senior Likud figures, including Netanyahu, Haim Katz and David Bitan, remain deadlocked after days of negotiations over multiple competing models: additional reserved slots for the chairman, a selection-committee approach, the so-called "triple method," and Bitan’s plan.

The court’s intervention could reshape not only the timetable for approving the rules but also which proposals may reach the convention floor and whether delegates will vote on full rule packages or on individual items.