New Likudniks appeal to court against party expulsion
The New Likudniks plan to appeal to the Tel Aviv district court on Wednesday, after 14 of the group’s members were kicked out of the Likud.
By LAHAV HARKOVUpdated: JANUARY 16, 2019 21:46New Likudniks chairman Lior Meiri.(photo credit: OHAD ROMANO)
The New Likudniks asked the Tel Aviv District Court to reverse their expulsion from the Likud on Wednesday.The hearing took place a day after 15 of the group’s members were kicked out of the Likud. But the group, which seeks to be a moderating force in the party, originally petitioned the court when 1,000 of them were removed. A decision is expected at a later date.Members of the group received a letter from the Likud’s Director-General Zuri Siso on Tuesday, notifying them of their removal from the party.“Among the considerations were the claims about you when you were invited to the hearing, as well as the opinion of retired justice Menachem Ne’eman, before whom the hearing took place, in which it was decided that there is a justification for stopping your membership in the Likud,” Siso wrote on Tuesday, the day after the hearing for the 15 New Likudniks.The hearing was called after Siso claimed the 15 are leftists who are “running a mass membership drive to the Likud to recruit people who do not identify with our goals and do not plan to vote for the Likud in the election for the Knesset.”Several of those removed from the party planned to run in its February 9 primary: New Likudniks leader Lior Meiri, Assaf Rothem and Yaniv Toyerman. Three other members of the group are still running in the primary.Meiri called the situation “political persecution, ugly lies, McCarthyism and anti-democratic.“We call on anyone who agrees with the Likud constitution to join the New Likudniks. We call on anyone for whom democracy is important to join this battle,” Meiri said.
