Likud Court Temporarily Suspends Haim Katz's Reserved Spot on Party List

The Likud party's internal court issued an interim injunction suspending Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's decision to reserve a secured spot ("shield") for Minister Haim Katz on the party's candidate list for the upcoming Knesset elections. The ruling, signed by attorney Yitzhak Bam, was delivered on Tuesday shortly after Netanyahu announced the reservation late Monday night.

Bam noted that while there are presumably significant reasons behind Netanyahu's decision to grant Katz the shield, these reasons remain unclear at this time. He ruled that the claims brought by the petitioner deserve further examination, and therefore the Likud secretariat's vote on Katz's shield was halted pending a final court decision. Both the party's legal advisor and Katz have been ordered to respond to the petition within 24 hours.

The injunction does not affect the reserved spots of other ministers: the shield for Minister Gideon Sa'ar was approved, as it involves a joint run with his party faction, a practice previously accepted, and the shield for Minister Israel Katz will be reviewed separately without an interim freeze. The reserved spots were part of a late-night agreement following a series of confidential deals within the party, including a prior court ruling to shield the Defense Minister to allow focus on security duties rather than internal politics.

The Likud secretariat was in the process of voting on these reserved spots when the injunction was issued, causing the vote on Katz's shield to be suspended. Katz's reservation is linked to his role as chairman of the party's central committee, while Sa'ar's shield stems from a unification agreement with his faction, and Israel Katz's shield is under separate consideration.