Third of Likud tried to replace Netanyahu post-Oct 7’: Lawmaker quits over Haredi draft exemptions, loss of values

Knesset Member Dan Illouz announced his resignation from the Likud party on Wednesday, strongly criticizing the party for prioritizing loyalty to the leader over personal responsibility and ignoring its historic values in favor of political survival.

The Canadian-born politician Illouz has repeatedly warned that the party that once combined conservative and liberal values has lost its way, especially in the ongoing debate over ultra-Orthodox military enlistment.

His comments serve as a concise list of grievances among some veteran lawmakers as well as many of Israel’s moderate right-wing voters, who, according to polls, could leave the Likud to support new parties on the right.

“From evading responsibility for October 7, to promoting schemes while our voters are collapsing in the reserves, to surrendering to interest groups that are raising the cost of living for all of us. This is no longer the Likud Party. This is a party that has been hijacked,” he said in a statement.

Speaking to Ynet News, Illouz revealed that in the weeks after the Hamas terror attack in southern Israel, about one-third of the party’s lawmakers sought to replace Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu but failed amid infighting for the top spot.

He noted that in light of the magnitude of the Oct. 7 catastrophe, he asks himself daily whether there was anything he could have done differently, despite serving only as a junior member of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee.

“A nation that seeks life cannot continue as usual. It should also be reflected in the leadership, which needs to be replaced… Some of my colleagues, who today are very busy showing how close they are to Netanyahu, were then occupied with how we replace him.”

“The only reason it didn't succeed… is not because there weren't enough numbers, but because they argued over who should be first, who should be the person to replace him,” Illouz said.

“I cannot accept the attempt to escape all responsibility and say, ‘It's only the others.’ Netanyahu has been prime minister for a very long time. He cannot say that it was only the security establishment. There are processes that took many years. Therefore, there is blame on the Shin Bet, there is blame on the army, and there is also blame on the government.”

As a religiously observant son of Moroccan-Jewish parents, Illouz immigrated to Israel from Canada at the age of 23 and said he joined the party on the day he immigrated "because I believed in the path that Likud declared it would promote – free-market economics, the wholeness of the Land of Israel, conscription for everyone.”

When Illouz became a Knesset member in a spot reserved for immigrants in 2022, as part of the “full right-wing government,” he said he viewed it as “a dream.”

“I thought we would advance those goals. When I reached the end of the term, I saw that we did exactly the opposite. The movement's goals did not advance,” he lamented.

By October 2024, Illouz was removed from the Economic and Defense Committees after refusing to support government subsidies for yeshiva students who were avoiding military service.

In his statement, he cited the coalition’s support for such legislation as a main reason for his resignation: “While the IDF is warning of collapse under the burden, Likud has chosen continued surrender to the Haredi parties and promoted schemes to institutionalize evasion.”

Being careful to differentiate the Haredi politicians and their voters, Illouz told Ynet that the Likud’s partnership with the ultra-Orthodox parties “has become an existential danger to the State of Israel… [they] do everything to prevent the integration of the population they represent into the economy and the army. Soon we won't have enough soldiers, and without soldiers there is no State of Israel. Likewise, if we don't have enough workers and a functioning economy, there is no State of Israel.”

Illouz has been a rare voice in the coalition calling for free-market economic policies and a lower cost of living, which were once key demands of the Likud party.

“But when I came to discussions in the Economics Committee and tried to fight monopolies and interest groups, I noticed that the people standing opposite me every time weren't opposition members but my colleagues in Likud – people who had recruited various interest groups and wanted their party members,” he said.

Illouz highlighted an overwhelming desire to preserve power within the coalition, which harmed the promotion of values. “All the legislation they're passing this week is only to add another week in power,” Illouz said.

“This [coalition] bloc has become idolatry. It harms our ability to advance right-wing economic and security policy. A security right [coalition] also means troop strength for the IDF. We see the chief of staff begging for more soldiers, and we tell him, 'We listened, but we decided otherwise.' That's not right-wing. It's as left-wing as it gets,” he added.

Due to the changes in the party list, as well as the significant losses projected for the Likud and Illouz’s decision to break ranks with the party leadership, he was widely expected to win re-election.

He told Ynet that he hopes to continue serving in the Knesset but hasn’t committed to joining any political framework, including a new party reportedly being considered by former Likud lawmaker and fellow dissenter Yuli Edelstein.

Looking ahead to the next Knesset, Illouz said he would like to see “a government in which all the parties are Zionist,” while declining to exclude the possibility of joining a government with the far-left Democrats over this issue.