Likud can’t rail against Gideon Sa’ar on social media anymore

"Use of the party's resources for an internal party disagreement is inappropriate use of party resources," Galili told the Likud's Director-General Tzuri Siso on the phone on Friday.

By LAHAV HARKOV
Supporters of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu protest outside Likud Party headquarters in Tel Aviv, Israel November 22, 2019. The placards in Hebrew read, "Strong in security, strong in Economy " (photo credit: CORINNA KERN/REUTERS)
Supporters of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu protest outside Likud Party headquarters in Tel Aviv, Israel November 22, 2019. The placards in Hebrew read, "Strong in security, strong in Economy "
(photo credit: CORINNA KERN/REUTERS)
The Likud cannot attack MK Gideon Sa’ar on its official social media accounts, the party’s comptroller Shai Galili determined.
“Use of the party’s resources for an internal party disagreement is inappropriate use of party resources,” Galili told Tzuri Siso, the Likud’s director-general, over the phone on Friday.
Sa’ar is the only lawmaker in the party who has said he will run against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for leadership of the Likud, and a primary is expected to take place next month as a result of Sa’ar’s challenge. The MK said at The Jerusalem Post Diplomatic Conference last month that after Netanyahu twice failed to form a government, he is unlikely to succeed on a third attempt. Sa’ar has repeated the argument several times in the ensuing week and a half.
Galili quoted a report he wrote in 2015 in which he maintained that “the management of the party and its treasury must stay objective in internal party disagreements... The party’s management may not instruct the funding of conferences and propaganda materials for the proposal of one party member against other members.”
In addition, the Likud constitution says that a “candidate may not directly or indirectly use any benefit based in public funding or property, including funds or property belonging to the party, in his election propaganda.”
Galili’s determination came after Sa’ar’s attorney sent two letters regarding the use of party funds to help Netanyahu versus Sa’ar in a leadership primary.
One letter quoted a November 23 statement from the Likud’s spokesman, Yonatan Urich, accusing Sa’ar of “showing zero loyalty and maximum subversiveness,” which was also published on social media.
The following day, Sa’ar tweeted that “the party’s resources, such as its spokesman’s office, funded by membership dues are not supposed to be used to lash out against the party’s elected officials. This is inappropriate and shows a lack of inhibition.”
In addition, Sa’ar’s lawyer said Likud funds were used to order polls and “telemarketing” in favor of Netanyahu ahead of the primaries.
“The basic condition of holding fair and equal elections is that the party system be objective, not biased and not act in the service of one candidate,” wrote Ofer Hanoch, Sa’ar’s lawyer. “I remind you that there was a recent scandal in the US which led senior officials to resign, when emails revealed that officials in the Democratic Party helped the candidate Hilary Clinton against her rivals in the party primary.”