Likud chairman Benjamin Netanyahu attacked the Central Elections Committee’s decision to disqualify Amichai Chikli from running on the Likud slate in a speech at an election event in Lod on Thursday evening.
"The Elections Committee is trying to overthrow the right-wing government even before the elections. They disqualify Chikli but allow Michal Shir [to run]. They disqualify Amichai Chikli and leave Ahmed Tibi who says that Nasrallah is a model and example. They disqualify Balad but leave Tibi and Ayman Odeh, because this is a fixed game, the goal of which is to overthrow the right and leave the left," said Netanyahu.
"I am turning to the head of the committee - why play the game? Just disqualify the Likud and get it over with. This is not a trial, this is not justice, this is a politically fixed game and we will give it one answer at the ballot box, with all our might," Netanyahu added.
“No to Amichai Chikli but yes to Ahmed Tibi? This is not acceptable to us. Those who are not ready to accept Amichai Chikli as a Knesset member, will get him as a minister in the Likud government!” he declared.
On Wednesday, following a petition by the Meretz Party, the Chairman of the Central Elections Committee, Judge Yitzhak Amit, disqualified Chikli from running on the Likud slate to the Knesset. Idit Silman’s candidacy was approved.
The Knesset House Committee voted in April in favor of declaring Chikli a defector from the Yamina party.
The declaration would have barred Chikli from running in the upcoming elections in any Knesset party which currently exists. In July, however, Chikli reached a deal with the Jerusalem District Court which stipulated that he would resign from his Knesset seat in exchange for not being sanctioned in the upcoming election.
Netanyahu announced earlier this month that Chikli, Silman and several other candidates of his choice were reserved spots on the Likud election slate.
In his ruling disqualifying Chikli, Judge Amit wrote that permitting him to run would render section 6a of the Knesset Basic Law meaningless, “thereby harming the public's trust in the 'rules of the game' as established by the Knesset itself.”
The Likud said it intends to petition the Supreme Court against the ruling. "The Likud sees this absurd decision as a serious harm to democracy - we will appeal to the Supreme Court."