High Court Rejects Sharren Haskel’s Bid to Split From Likud

Israel’s Supreme Court on Sunday summarily rejected a petition by former Knesset member Sharren Haskel, who sought permission to split from the Likud party. The decision was issued by a panel that included Supreme Court President Justice Yitzhak Amit, along with Justices Daphne Barak-Erez and Alex Stein.<\/p>

At the heart of the petition was Haskel’s claim that Likud and the National Right party have not formally completed their merger process, preventing her from splitting from the faction. She argued that the failure to formally finalize the merger denies her the ability to exercise her parliamentary rights.<\/p>

However, the court did not accept her position, ruling that the petition was filed at a late stage, after significant time had passed since the merger agreement and since the actions that, according to the petitioner, demonstrated that it had been implemented in practice.<\/p>

The ruling stated: "In the case before us, the petitioner’s opposition to the merger took practical form only long after the original merger agreement was signed, and also after a considerable period of time, given the circumstances, following the actions that, in her view, reflected its implementation in practice, without having been brought for Knesset approval."<\/p>

The court also addressed another claim Haskel raised during the proceedings, concerning the election of the State Comptroller, but clarified that it had no bearing on the decision in the petition. The ruling noted: "Under the circumstances, I was not required, within the framework of the present petition, to address the claims raised by the petitioner regarding the vote on the election of the State Comptroller, as this matter is not relevant to the present petition."<\/p>

Alongside the petition, Haskel submitted an affidavit raising claims about conduct during the repeat round of voting to elect the State Comptroller. According to her, members of the "New Hope" faction were asked "to document their vote by filming themselves on video," and then to present the recording "to the prime minister, with no possibility for independent judgment." She further claimed that media reports on the matter reflected what had actually happened.<\/p>

The claims raised by Haskel led to the opening of a police investigation, during which she also gave testimony to the Lahav 433 unit. During the investigation, officers sought to determine whether the instruction to document the vote had been given by officials in the "New Hope" faction or had come from Likud officials.<\/p>