Head of party court among Likud figures detained for questioning in tax fraud probe

Sam Sokol is the Times of Israel's political correspondent. He was previously a reporter for the Jerusalem Post, Jewish Telegraphic Agency and Haaretz. He is the author of "Putin’s Hybrid War and the Jews"

Michael Kleiner, a former member of Knesset and the current president of the Likud party’s internal Supreme Court, was identified Wednesday among the suspects detained by the Israel Police’s Lahav 433 major crimes unit this week amid a probe into tax fraud.

The hard-right politician, who served in the Knesset on and off between 1982 and 2003, was detained over his alleged involvement in the case of a construction contractor suspected of hiding tens of millions of shekels in real estate assets from tax authorities despite undergoing bankruptcy proceedings since 2012.

“The investigation suggests the suspects acted systematically to hide their holdings from the authorities and rake in enormous sums,” police said on Monday, adding that officers had confiscated “much property” and will keep it conficated throughout the legal proceedings.

Along with Kleiner, police detained David Appel — a Likud activist and building contractor who was convicted of bribery in 2010 — as well as siblings Yaffa and Yitzhak Dayan.

Speaking with the Israel Hayom daily on Wednesday, Kleiner insisted that he had “always made sure to act properly while respecting the law and enforcement authorities, and that is the case here as well.”

Kleiner further said that he denies all of the allegations against him and believes “that law enforcement authorities will also reach the correct conclusions.”

“I was already questioned about these exact same matters back in 2023. I understand that the timing of the investigation now has a high public profile, but I have no intention of entering into this controversy,” he said.

Kleiner, in his capacity as president of the Likud’s internal Supreme Court, has recently been involved in two high-profile rulings that went against the interests of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Last week, the tribunal struck down Netanyahu’s bid to allow the party to cancel its primary in the event of a “wartime situation” and instead select candidates through an appointed committee controlled by the premier.

In its ruling, the court said then that there was “no room to open even the slightest door to canceling the primary,” which is currently set for August 17, arguing that Likud “is not a one-man party and will lose its character if it becomes one.”

Recent Hebrew media reports said that some Likud lawmakers were concerned that Netanyahu was seeking to avoid holding primaries in order to give him absolute control over the entire slate, a move that could see some backbenchers pushed so far down they would not realistically return to the Knesset.

Speaking with Radio 103FM on Wednesday morning, Regional Cooperation Minister David Amsalem insisted that “this is a party that does not belong to any single person, including the prime minister. Likud is a popular movement that existed before the prime minister and will exist after him and after me. Likud needs to understand this.”

And while Kleiner and other members of the tribunal let stand a recent vote to significantly expand the prime minister’s control over the party’s Knesset slate — granting him eight reserved slots in the top 29 places on the list ahead of the October 27 election — on Tuesday they overturned a Netanyahu-backed measure allowing sitting and former Knesset members, ministers and deputy ministers to compete for slots reserved for candidates in regional districts.

The ruling means the current Likud MKs, ministers and deputy ministers have to compete for non-reserved spots, which means many of them will almost certainly fail to enter the next Knesset.

Writing to Ilan Bombach, an attorney representing both Netanyahu and Likud, on Wednesday, members of the tribunal stated that if he intends to challenge that ruling, he should first inform the party court whether he is doing so on behalf of the faction or the prime minister himself.

A spokesman for Likud did not answer when asked if the allegations against Kleiner have affected Netanyahu or the party’s perception of the legitimacy of the tribunal’s rulings.

However, firebrand MK Tally Gotliv defended Kleiner, telling The Times of Israel that “if the Israel Police had even a shred of evidence constituting reasonable suspicion against MK Michael Kleiner, he would be under arrest.”

“This headline shows that the persecution of the right continues, goes on, and will continue all the time. These headlines do not impress me, not even in the slightest,” Gotliv said.

Kleiner is the latest in a string of Likud members and prime ministerial associates, including Gotliv, who have either been investigated or indicted for crimes.

In June, lawmakers voted to grant Gotliv immunity after she was indicted for exposing the identity of a Shin Bet officer. That same month, Jonatan Urich, a senior media adviser to Netanyahu, was indicted on the charge of transmitting classified information with the intent to harm state security.

Around the same time, police recommended that Social Equality Minister May Golan be prosecuted over allegations that she created fictitious jobs in her ministry for relatives of friends and influential colleagues.

Not long after that, the police announced that they had completed an investigation into Energy Minister Eli Cohen and passed his case to the State Attorney’s Office for potential prosecution. Cohen is suspected of illegally issuing diplomatic passports to Likud mayors and Netanyahu’s son, Yair.

Last month, Likud MK Hanoch Milwidsky, the chairman of the Knesset Finance Committee, was questioned about allegations that he raped a woman while he was serving as a legal adviser to the New Age religious association “Bnei Baruch — Kabbalah La’Am.”

Netanyahu himself is currently on trial for corruption.

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