Gantz: Open vote on Edelstein’s ouster will show Israelis which MKs are harming country’s security

By Sam Sokol 23 July 2025, 11:27 am

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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"

MK Benny Gantz, leader of the Blue and White-National Unity party, leads a faction meeting at the Knesset in Jerusalem, on July 21, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

National Unity chairman Benny Gantz slams Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party over its decision to replace Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee chairman Yuli Edelstein, declaring that it will harm IDF soldiers.

“The only good thing about the Likud faction’s vote on choosing the chairman of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee being open — is that all the people of Israel will know who the Likud MKs are who are lending a hand to harming those who serve and to the security of the State of Israel,” he tweets.

The Likud faction vote on replacing Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee chairman Yuli Edelstein will no longer be held in secret after the party’s legal adviser determined that there should be an open ballot.