Ahead of vote to replace him, Edelstein says he has always ‘paid a price for my ideology’

By Sam Sokol 23 July 2025, 5:14 pm

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Sam Sokol is a former political correspondent at The Times of Israel. 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"

Likud's Yuli Edelstein leads a Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee meeting at the Knesset in Jerusalem, July 21, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Ahead of a Likud faction vote on his replacement, Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee chairman Yuli Edelstein declares that he has always “remained faithful to my values and the principles for which I fought.”

“All along, since the days of the days of the communist Soviet Union, I have paid a price for my ideology. For my fight for the Land of Israel, the people of Israel and the Torah of Israel,” he declares, expressing support for a non-binding Knesset motion to annex the West Bank.

“I was not afraid then and I am not afraid today. The same sense of mission that accompanied me then accompanies me today, when the same goal remains before my eyes – to secure the future of our children in our homeland.”