Likud MK Gotliv says ruling that vote on replacing Edelstein must be open ‘does not hold water’

By Sam Sokol 23 July 2025, 11:19 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"

Likud MK Tally Gotliv is physically restrained as she heckles MK Ayman Odeh, ahead of a vote on the Arab lawmaker's proposed expulsion from the Knesset, on July 14, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Today’s Likud faction vote on replacing Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee Yuli Edelstein should be conducted by secret ballot, and the party’s legal adviser’s ruling that it cannot be is badly reasoned, argues MK Tally Gotliv, an alternate member of the committee.

“I disagree with [his] explanation. In my opinion, the vote should be secret and the legal adviser’s document does not hold water,” the Likud lawmaker tells The Times of Israel.

Likud party legal adviser Avi Halevi wrote that “all votes held within the faction, including the election of Knesset committee members and chairpeople” have been open and “an exception to this rule is inconsistent with the law, with the desired parliamentary tradition, and with the public duty that applies to elected officials.”