'A political rival is not the enemy,' says Erdan

Erdan and Edelstein unveil still-unnamed party: ‘Likud no longer represents its voters’

Longtime Likud lawmakers vow to legislate universal enlistment, promise to join only a broad government, but don’t rule out sitting in a coalition with Netanyahu

Former Likud ministers Gilad Erdan and Yuli Edelstein formally rolled out their new political party at an event Thursday evening in Tel Aviv — without an official name.

Speaking in front of a backdrop reading “Right-wing. Enlistment. Unity,” the two veteran politicians bemoaned the current state of their former party, vowed to make universal IDF service a cornerstone of their platform and promised to only join a broad consensus government.

“Tonight I am parting from the political home in which I grew up for more than 30 years,” Erdan said in his speech at the party’s official rollout. “Unfortunately, I can no longer call it home — because Likud’s elected representatives no longer represent the Likud voters whom I love so much.”

Erdan first entered the Knesset with Likud in 2003 and went on to serve as public security, communications and regional cooperation minister, and from 2020-2024 held the role of Israeli ambassador to the United Nations.

Edelstein — a former refusenik who moved to Israel from the Soviet Union in 1987 — first entered the Knesset with the Yisrael B’Aliyah party in 1996 before it merged with Likud in 2003. He has served as health minister, speaker of the Knesset and chairman of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee.

He was ousted as FADC chairman by his own party last year after he insisted on tougher sanctions against Haredi draft dodgers, and last month he announced he was quitting Likud because he opposed its bid to legislate military draft exemptions for yeshiva students.

The lawmakers did not, however, explicitly rule out sitting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a future government. In response to a question Thursday evening, Erdan said he would not deal with “disqualifications or personal boycotts,” adding that “as long as Netanyahu is elected by the people, it is his right and his duty to serve as prime minister.”

“We will of course respect any democratic decision by the people, yet we believe in a broad Zionist government that will not be dependent on Haredi or Arab parties,” Erdan said.

While stressing his support for “a broad Zionist government,” Erdan ruled out joining any coalition with The Democrats’ chairman Yair Golan, who he accused of “vilifying IDF soldiers in front of the world” and never apologizing.

“I am not leaving the values on which I was raised,” Erdan said Thursday. “I am setting out to ensure that there will be a party that implements them… I believe that the time has come to restore to the right what it has lost in recent years: Responsibility. The dignity and spirit of the Revisionist movement. And mutual respect.”

Erdan said that while he is staunchly and firmly right-wing in his beliefs, “I have never hated those who think differently from me… because a political rival is not the enemy. Our enemies are in Tehran, in Gaza and in Lebanon.”

The former ambassador said the new still-unnamed party — which many in the media have dubbed “Likud B” — is a home for “right-wing voters who supported the coalition but do not want draft evasion, and right-wing voters in the opposition who do not want a left-wing government.”

Erdan said the party will refuse to join any narrow government: “We must break the system that keeps producing narrow governments that surrender to sectoral interests instead of serving the majority of Israeli citizens. The solution is not another narrow government. The solution is only a broad Zionist government. A government that will not be held hostage by fringe groups and sectoral interests.”

In his own remarks, Edelstein said he and Erdan are building “a new political home that will give voice to the hundreds of thousands of Israelis who feel they don’t have anyone to vote for anymore.”

In the wake of the October 7 massacre, Edelstein said, “it was clear to me that it was impossible to continue as if nothing had happened,” saying he hopes to work to “mend the rifts, restore trust between the different parts of our people, and rebuild the partnership on which the State of Israel was founded.”

Edelstein said that since the outbreak of the war he worked to advance a “real conscription law,” something for which he paid a “political price.”

The party joins a crowded field of mostly center-right factions aiming to present an alternative to Netanyahu’s ruling Likud party. Erdan and Edelstein have also been rumored to have held talks with former minister Ayelet Shaked, former deputy minister Sharren Haskel as well as even with Blue and White chief Benny Gantz.

Gantz and his new political ally Dedy Simhi meanwhile reportedly held talks with former lawmakers Yoaz Hendel and Chili Tropper’s Zionist Home party but failed to agree on a merger. A different renegade Likud MK, Dan Illouz, announced this week that he was joining Avigdor Liberman’s Yisrael Beytenu party.

Parties have until September 8 to submit their electoral slates to the Central Elections Committee.

A Channel 13 poll on Wednesday showed the Erdan-Edelstein party would not cross the electoral threshold, while a poll from last week by The Times of Israel’s sister site Zman Yisrael showed the faction would receive five Knesset seats. The electoral threshold is set at 3.25%, which means a party must receive four seats in order to enter the Knesset.

Erdan and Edelstein’s party marks the latest attempt by former members of Netanyahu’s faction to break off and compete with him. Previous parties of that nature have had a mixed track record; some have ended up rejoining Likud — like Gideon Sa’ar’s New Hope and Moshe Kahlon’s Kulanu.

Democrats said to rule out including hostage mom on list

Meanwhile, Golan reportedly decided Thursday that he will forgo his ability to reserve a spot on his party’s electoral slate for Einav Zangauker, the mother of Matan Zangauker, who was held in Hamas captivity in Gaza for more than two years before being released.

Hebrew media outlets reported that Golan has informed Zangauker that he won’t be adding her to the slate.

Zangauker was among the most outspoken advocates for the hostages’ release during the years they were held in Gaza, and one of the most vocal critics of what she portrayed as the government’s neglect of the captives. She became a constant and recognizable face during the weekly anti-government protests while her son was held hostage, and was a regular in TV studios.

Zangauker said earlier this year that she was considering entering politics and that her “life’s mission” is to remove the current government. But it is not clear if she will be joining any political slate ahead of the October 27 election.

In The Democrats’ primary last month, MK Naama Lazimi took the spot directly after Golan, followed by MK Gilad Kariv and then MK Efrat Rayten.

The Democrats are one of only a handful of Israeli parties to use primaries in selecting a Knesset slate, alongside the Likud and Religious Zionism parties. But in a controversial move within the party, Likud has allowed Netanyahu will handpick eight candidates on the party’s list in so-called “reserved” slots.