Netanyahu calls emergency meeting days before election

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called for an emergency meeting on Saturday with Central Elections Committee Chairman and Supreme Court Chief Justice Hanan Meltzer in order to “ensure that there is no further theft in this election,” Maariv reported.

Likud stated that the “grave findings of the Kalman Liebskind investigation” indicate that the election was “stolen” from Netanyahu, according to Maariv. “If the Likud complaints were examined on time, Israel would not be in the current round of elections.”

In his article, which Maariv will publish in full tonight, Liebskind writes, “Those responsible for the purity of the Israeli elections should not be entrusted with this sacred work. The Central Election Commission Chairman, Hanan Meltzer, at best did nothing to check forgeries [reported] in the previous election, and in the worst case, fought with all his might, for his own reasons, so that counting errors discovered – would not be corrected.”

The meeting will reportedly be attended by Tourism Minister Yariv Levin, Justice Minister Amir Ohana, Strategic Affairs Minister Gilad Erdan and Likud representative on the Knesset committee, MK David Bitan. 

Politicians quickly responded to the prime minister’s request with disapproval.

Labor Party leader Amir Peretz said it was “a shame that such a message comes out of the Prime Minister’s Office in Israel. Instead of convening an emergency meeting about the state of the health system, the young couples who can’t buy an apartment, or the families who can’t make ends meet, what interests Netanyahu are a few polls,” according to Walla.

While at an event on Saturday in Ramat Gan, Blue and White MK and former IDF chief of staff Gabi Ashkenazi said Netanyahu was “in hysteria, pressure, and panic. He is doing dangerous things. Things no prime minister has done. I am very disturbed by the violent discourse. I hope we won’t see violence.”