Netanyahu to seek his ouster after August 14 primary.
By GIL STERN STERN HOFFMANfeiglin looks up 298.88(photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimski)
An internal Likud court decided on Monday to allow Likud activist Moshe Feiglin to seek the party's leadership but said it would address whether he could be expelled from the party after the August 14 primary.
Feiglin declared victory after the decision, but Likud officials said his legal battle was far from over. They said Likud chairman Binyamin Netanyahu was prepared to go to the High Court of Justice after the election to try to remove him from the party.
"The High Court will have to decide whether the party can distance people based on their ideological views," a Likud source said. "It's the same as if Ahmed Tibi joined the Likud. As a matter of principle, we need to know whether the party can defend itself from a hostile takeover."
Why I want to be Likud's next chairman, by Moshe Feiglin
The third candidate in the race, World Likud chairman Danny Danon, opposed preventing Feiglin from running but said he would support banishing him from the party. Danon unveiled a new advertising campaign on Monday accusing Feiglin of being "dangerous to the Likud." Danon, who by his own count has spent "tens of thousands of dollars" on his campaign raised from Jews and Christians around the world, also unveiled a new campaign attacking Netanyahu in both Hebrew and English.
In the version used in the Hebrew press, Danon uses the slogan "Bibi is being swept Leftward," while a graphic shows Netanyahu's head moving in that direction. In the English version in The Jerusalem Post, Danon accuses Netanyahu of being willing to give the Golan Heights to Syria.
Feiglin responded to the attack from Netanyahu by accusing him of being "hysterical" and avoiding a debate with him.
"I don't know what he is afraid of," Feiglin said. "I am presenting my views and Netanyahu, instead of saying what he believes in, is trying to stop me from running. I have given up hope of hearing Netanyahu's opinion."
Feiglin said Danon was "desperate" because he received only one percent in a poll broadcast on Israel Radio on Thursday. He said he could sue him for libel, but "I am in court enough and he's not worth making a lawyer rich."
Netanyahu's associates declined to respond to Feiglin and Danon.
