Israel's election race shifts: Veteran lawmaker leaves Likud over Haredi draft; Bennett-Lapid alliance takes shape

One of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's longest-serving political allies is leaving the Likud Party ahead of Israel's upcoming Knesset elections, citing the party's continued support for draft exemptions for ultra-Orthodox men as incompatible with both Israel's needs and his own principles.

In an interview broadcast Saturday evening on Channel 12's popular "Meet the Press" program, veteran Likud lawmaker Yuli Edelstein announced that he will not participate in the party's upcoming primaries and instead plans to embark on "a new political path."

His departure underscores growing tensions within Israel's right-wing camp over military conscription and sets the stage for what is expected to be a highly competitive election campaign.

Edelstein is among the most famous of the former "refuseniks," the Jewish Soviet dissidents who were prevented from emigrating to Israel. After being released from prison in the eighties and going into politics in Israel in the nineties, he joined the Likud in 2003.

He went on to hold several ministerial posts and was the speaker of the Knesset. In the Likud, he became among the most powerful lawmakers and, at one point, came in second in the internal primary elections, though he fell to number 18 ahead of the last elections.

"If you succeed in the primaries, you then have to stand on the stage and say, 'Vote Likud, we will…,' and I don't know how to finish that sentence," Edelstein said. "What will we do? Continue to allow freeloading?"

"There are members who, right now, are surprised to hear what I'm saying," Edelstein continued. "They'll say: 'Yuli, what are you doing? We've supported him for decades, we would have supported him this time around, too — why is he doing this?'"

After apologizing to those who had voted Likud in previous elections because of him, Edelstein concluded that "There is no other way. We need to make a change in this country… the State of Israel has always come before my party."

In the same interview, he said he would embark on "a new political path," adding that he plans to establish his own political faction to challenge Likud in the upcoming elections.

"There is a fairly large public that is hungry for this message," he added. "The public has shifted right – you see it in all the polls."

Israeli commentators have referred to this hypothetical new party as "Likud B," with speculations and rumors marking Edelstein, former Interior and Justice Minister, Ayelet Shaked, longtime Likud minister Gilad Erdan and current deputy foreign minister, Sharren Haskel, as possible leading figures.

Edelstein also said he believes most right-wing voters support a more "responsible" approach to advancing issues such as judicial reform, the conscription of ultra-Orthodox men, the country's ongoing security needs and the economy.

Having chaired the important Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee since 2022, Edelstein was replaced with Boaz Bismuth in July 2025 over his refusal to legislate a law that allows broad exemptions from the IDF draft for ultra-Orthodox men.

Edelstein added that he hopes to build a "broad Zionist government" that is "not dependent on non-Zionist factions," an apparent reference to Arab parties and the ultra-Orthodox parties.

The Channel 12 program also featured Opposition Leader Yair Lapid, who criticized Netanyahu's handling of the conflict with Iran.

"If you want to topple the Iranian government, you need to take out the Iranian economy, and afterward the next [Iranian] government would need to build it again from scratch over years."

Lapid also discussed his decision to take the number 2 spot on the electoral list of the "Together" party he has formed with former prime minister Naftali Bennett, who is more right-of-center than himself.

Lapid said the arrangement best serves the country's interests at this stage, adding that "Naftali Bennett is the right person at the right time."

"I'm not saying he's better or more fitting than Gadi Eisenkot; I'm saying he's better and more fitting than me at this moment. We need, right now, a leader from the right. I need someone who was prime minister, who was defense minister, who was education minister, who was economy minister, who established a government, who dismantled a government, who lost, not just who won, and he is a person of the right… I put myself, my party, and my trust behind him."