Lapid: Likud will become ‘branch of Haredi parties’ by replacing Edelstein

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"

By holding a vote to replace Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee chairman Yuli Edelstein, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud faction is turning itself into an arm of the Haredi parties, Opposition Leader Yair Lapid declares.

“Today the Likud faction will convene and, on Netanyahu’s orders, will officially announce that it is a branch of the Haredi [parties],” Lapid asserts in a speech to the Knesset.

“The nationalist camp is a joke, the right is a joke,” he says.

At the very least, Likud should stop calling itself a “nationalist party,” because such a party “doesn’t oust the chairman of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee just to encourage draft evasion in the middle of a war,” Lapid adds.

Most Popular
If you’d like to comment, join
The Times of Israel Community.
Join The Times of Israel Community
Commenting is available for paying members of The Times of Israel Community only. Please join our Community to comment and enjoy other Community benefits.
Please use the following structure: example@domain.com
Confirm Mail
Thank you! Now check your email
You are now a member of The Times of Israel Community! We sent you an email with a login link to . Once you're set up, you can start enjoying Community benefits and commenting.