The Jerusalem District Court on Monday rejected a petition by eight Likud members seeking to block the party’s conference, and canceled the temporary injunction issued on June 17. Judge Tamar Bar-Asher ruled that the conference will go ahead under the Likud internal court’s June 4 decision, which allowed the gathering to approve the primary-election rules and other matters directly tied to the primaries.
The petition was based on claims of serious flaws in the Likud conference election held in November 2025. The challengers cited alleged irregularities in the voter registry, delays in publishing candidate lists, and changes to polling locations. The court noted that checks found suspicions that about 21% of the members listed in the registry, roughly 28,000 people, did not pay their membership dues themselves, but had them paid by others.
Even so, the court held that there was no basis to interfere with the party tribunal’s rulings. The Likud internal court had acknowledged the seriousness of the allegations, but decided not to delay the primary process. Bar-Asher said Israeli courts generally intervene in internal party tribunals only in exceptional cases involving lack of authority or a violation of natural justice, and found no such flaw here.
During the hearing, acting Likud director general David Sharan said the party urgently needed to approve the primaries regulations in order to meet the electoral timetable. He said the next Knesset election is expected on October 20, 2026, and candidate lists must be submitted 45 days before that date. Bar-Asher concluded that the balance of convenience clearly favored holding the conference, so the request for interim relief was denied.
