Ex-Likud ministers Erdan, Edelstein to launch new right-wing party on Thursday

As-yet unnamed party will push for ultra-Orthodox conscription; is the latest to attempt to offer a right-wing alternative to Prime Minister Netanyahu’s ruling Likud

Former Likud ministers Gilad Erdan and Yuli Edelstein announced in a statement on Wednesday evening that they will hold a special event on Thursday to announce the establishment of a new right-wing party under Erdan’s leadership.

The still-unnamed party marks the latest attempt by former members of Prime Minister Benjamin 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.

Erdan, 55, is a former UN ambassador, and Edelstein quit Likud last month after decades in the party because he opposed its bid to legislate military draft exemptions for yeshiva students.

Erdan and Edelstein signaled on Wednesday that drafting ultra-Orthodox men will be a focus of their party. In a video posted to social media platform X on Wednesday, Erdan addressed reports of the new party’s imminent launch, stating that he was “here to tell you that it’s happening soon, very soon.”

The camera then panned out to show him sitting with Edelstein, the former speaker of the Knesset and head of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee.

After the slogan “right-wing, conscription, unity” appeared onscreen, the video showed the pair ignoring a phone call from United Torah Judaism chairman Yitzhak Goldknopf, who opposes Haredi enlistment, with Edelstein saying “it’s not relevant.”

A poll published by The Times of Israel’s Hebrew sister site Zman Yisrael last week found that a new party headed by Erdan and Edelstein, provisionally dubbed “Likud B,” would win five Knesset seats if elections were held today. But even if it joined with Netanyahu’s opponents, it would fail to end the electoral stalemate predicted in successive surveys.

Decades as senior members of Likud

Erdan first entered the Knesset as a Likud MK in 2003 and has served as public security, communications and regional cooperation minister, among other roles.

He has clashed with Netanyahu over policy, rejected Likud’s claims that criminal investigations into the premier were politically motivated, and was reportedly one of several party MKs who were looking to oust the prime minister following his 2019 indictment.

Netanyahu appointed him to the post of Israeli ambassador to the United Nations in 2020, a move that removed him from the domestic political scene. He also briefly served as ambassador to Washington.

In May, Erdan told Radio 103FM that he saw himself as a potential prime minister once Netanyahu leaves politics.

“In the post-Netanyahu era, I see myself as a candidate for prime minister. I know what Israel needs. If I felt comfortable with what is happening in the Likud, I would return to political activity within the party,” he said at the time.

Edelstein, 68, was born in present-day Ukraine and was one of the most prominent Soviet Jewish refuseniks. He was arrested by Soviet authorities in the 1980s for teaching Hebrew. Upon his release in 1987, he moved to Israel and was first elected to the Knesset in 1996 as co-leader of Yisrael Ba’aliyah, a right-wing party that appealed to Russian-speaking immigrants who arrived in Israel en masse amid the USSR’s collapse.

In 2003, the party merged with Likud, which Edelstein has since represented in the Knesset save for a short break in 2006-2007. As a Likud lawmaker, he has served in senior positions, including Knesset speaker and health minister during the COVID pandemic.

But Edelstein had a public falling out with Likud last year, when the party booted him as chairman of the Knesset’s influential Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee after he insisted on tougher sanctions against Haredi draft dodgers. His stance had frustrated the government’s bid to pass a bill acceptable to ultra-Orthodox coalition partners who oppose any attempt to enlist yeshiva students.

An alternative to Likud and a check on extremists

Speaking with The Times of Israel in May, a source with knowledge of the discussions about the formation of the new party said that it aimed to establish a right-wing Zionist coalition focused on economic recovery, security, and settlements, but would be one that could “rein in the extremists” and include centrist elements as well.

The new party would also depart from the current government’s controversial effort to weaken the judiciary, but would support a more moderate judicial reform aiming to avoid the current “political dispute.”

The source is no longer privy to details regarding the party due to be announced on Thursday.

The new party does not include Sharren Haskel, who once belonged to a previous Likud breakaway party. She was long expected to join but recently announced the formation of her own “Israel First” faction. Despite early reports, the new party also does not appear to include former finance minister Moshe Kahlon, another former Likud breakaway who was once popular but who was convicted on securities reporting offenses in May.

According to Channel 12, Erdan has been in contact with former Beit Shemesh mayor Aliza Bloch regarding her possible involvement in the new party.

How long will it last?

The party’s poll numbers raise concerns that the new party could end up like Kahlon’s Kulanu party, which won 10 seats in 2015, joined a Netanyahu-led coalition, and won only four seats in 2019 before merging with Likud.

Asked how the new party could avoid the same fate, a second source familiar with the discussions surrounding the new party told The Times of Israel in May that “there are no legal steps to prevent this, only the integrity of the members of the faction in the Knesset.”

“The only coalition the party will join would be a broad Zionist coalition,” the source added.