The internal tribunal Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party on Sunday unanimously rejected petitions to expel former defense minister Yoav Gallant from the party.

While the tribunal sharply criticized Gallant’s conduct, including his opposition to the Likud-led overhaul of the judiciary and attempts to legislate draft exemptions for yeshiva students, it found no constitutional grounds for expelling him from the party, according to Hebrew media reports.

Gallant, a veteran Likud member, responded by calling the petitions an “attempted political assassination” and panned the lawmakers behind them as not embracing the party’s ideology.

Netanyahu fired Gallant in the middle of the war in Gaza over policy disagreements, and the former minister has continued to harshly criticize the premier since.

The petitions, filed by Likud members and backed by the party’s legal adviser, accused Gallant of violating party principles, obstructing government policies, and aiding the opposition.

The tribunal rejected those claims, arguing that there was insufficient evidence to support them. It noted that a lawmaker’s duty is ultimately to the state rather than the party, and that any judgment on whether Gallant acted out of genuine concern for the national interest should be left to voters, not party judges.

The judges also warned against using allegations of disloyalty to the party to settle internal political scores, noting the irony that........

© The Times of Israel