Edelstein says he left Likud because he couldn’t defend party’s agenda, seeks ‘broad Zionist government’

Knesset Member Yuli Edelstein says he can no longer campaign for a party that continues to back ultra-Orthodox draft exemptions, arguing that doing so would betray his principles, after a short clip of an interview with Channel 12’s “Meet the Press” was released yesterday, in which he announced his departure from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party.

“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 says in the full interview, published today. “What will we do? Continue to allow freeloading?” he questions, in apparent reference to the government’s failure to fulfill its obligation to draft members of the ultra-Orthodox public into the army.

Edelstein apologizes to Likud voters, saying, “There is no other way. We need to make a change in this country… the State of Israel has always come before my party.”

Looking ahead, the longtime lawmaker says he intends to establish a new political framework rather than join an existing party, though he declines to yet name it.

“There is a fairly large public that is hungry for this message. The public has shifted right – you see it in all the polls,” he says, arguing that many right-wing voters are seeking a “responsible right” that would advance ultra-Orthodox conscription, judicial reform and better address the security needs of Israel’s north and south.

Edelstein says he is seeking a “broad Zionist government” that is “not dependent on non-Zionist factions,” including Arab and ultra-Orthodox parties, adding that he would even be willing to take the “tenth spot” on a joint electoral list if it prevented the center-right vote from splintering.