The World Likud Court has ruled that a delegate list the Zionist Organization of America filed on September 3 is invalid and that the United States delegation to the 8th World Likud Conference must be the first 18 names from the original “Coalition ZOA” slate chosen in the spring vote, according to a copy of the ruling reviewed by The Jerusalem Post.
The three-judge panel – presided over by lawyers Ofir Bar Noy, Assi Yona, and Avi Azulai – ordered ZOA to submit a corrected list immediately and instructed the World Likud Election Committee to publish it today. Any vacancy must be filled strictly by numerical order, beginning with No. 19, while observing representation requirements for women and young delegates.
World Zionist Organization chairman and World Likud representative Yaakov Hagoel welcomed the outcome.
“Those who sought to undermine the will of the voters have been stopped. Today is a victory for democracy, for the unity of our movement, for Zionism, and for every candidate who acted with integrity and faith throughout the process. We will continue working together for the People of Israel, the State of Israel, and the Likud Movement, guided by our commitment to unity and ideology,” Hagoel said.
ZOA leaders rejected the ruling and said they would seek to overturn it.
“What is really going on here is that ZOA and many ZOA Coalition candidates, along with our Likud friends in France and elsewhere, believe that World Likud needs new leadership, and are supporting Israeli Minister Miki Zohar as the best choice to be the new World Likud chairman,” ZOA National President Morton Klein and ZOA National Director of Research and Special Projects Elizabeth Berney said in a statement.
ZOA to choose delegation
“Disturbingly, current World Likud Chair Yaakov Hagoel responded by traveling to New York to solicit several ZOA Coalition candidates to file a petition in the World Likud court to change the ZOA delegation to the World Likud convention. The World Likud Court decision is obviously wrong, because the key provisions in the World Likud Constitution and elsewhere give ZOA the right to choose its delegation to the World Likud convention,” the statement continued.
Klein and Berney insisted that “we believe that the Higher Likud court is likely to rectify the decision” this week. “Most importantly, ZOA continues to love the petitioners and all our ZOA Coalition candidates, and this is mutual. We mutually reaffirmed this both in private conversations with them, and even during the World Likud Court hearing. We are determined not to let anyone divide ZOA Coalition’s unity, friendship, and battle for our strong pro-Israel agenda.”
The court wrote that the valid US delegation is the top 18 on the original Coalition ZOA slate that was filed during the March–May election period administered in the US by the American Zionist Movement.
In order, the 18 are Klein, Berney, Dr. Pedram Bral, Deborah Shamilov, Ben Kogan, Chagit Leviev, Valeria Chazin, Brooke Goldstein, Steve Orlow, Sid Rosenberg, Ronn Torossian, Yuriy Danielov, Sigalit Flicker, Russell Feder, Judy Freedman Kadish, Debra Schwartzben, Ricky Novick, and Gabriel Boxer.
If a seat opens, the next eligible names advance in order, beginning with Ely Levi, Linda Sadacka, Rabbi Pini Dunner, Meir Hurwitz, Elisabeth Axel, Khandan Kalaty, and Victor Naar, subject to the same representation rules.
World Likud is the international arm of Israel’s Likud party and holds its own congress with delegates from Israel and the Diaspora. In the United States, the American Zionist Movement administers broad Zionist elections that organizations use to set their ordered slates.
That framework is separate from the World Zionist Congress, which AZM also helps administer and which can involve overlapping groups and similar terminology. The dispute here centered on a revised list ZOA sent on September 3 that changed the order and, in some cases, the names from the earlier voter-approved slate. The court found those changes impermissible under World Likud rules, restored the original order, and barred ad hoc substitutions.