Likud MK Illouz resigns from Knesset month after ditching ruling party, says PM ‘must go home’

Likud MK Dan Illouz submits his resignation from the Knesset exactly one month after announcing his departure from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ruling party, which he has claimed sold out its principles to hang onto power.

In a letter to Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana, the freshman legislator notes that less than 20 years ago he immigrated to Israel from Canada “out of deep Zionism,” leaving behind “family, friends, and a secure career, and boarded a plane without knowing what awaited me.”

“The 25th Knesset served during one of the most difficult periods known to the state. Hostages, the fallen, bereaved families, and a home torn apart from within. In it, I led Zionist, national, and liberal struggles out of complete faith, even when the pressure was immense and the personal toll heavy. I paid it willingly, and I am proud of every single one of these struggles,” Illouz says, in a reference to his efforts to stymie his party’s push to exempt Haredi yeshiva students from conscription.

Illouz, who has since announced he will run in the next election as part of Avigdor Liberman’s hawkish Yisrael Beytenu opposition party, is set to be replaced by Shabtai Katash, a Chabad Hasid and member of the Lod religious council.

Illouz’s resignation will take effect within 48 hours.

In a post on X, Illouz explains that he waited to resign to prevent Katash from entering the Knesset during the battle over conscription, writing that had he “resigned earlier, a Haredi MK on behalf of Likud would have entered the Knesset in my place, adding another vote for the draft exemption laws promoted by Netanyahu, Goldknopf and Deri.”

“As long as I served in the Knesset, I acted to block this legislation,” he says, adding that “Netanyahu failed and did not take responsibility. He must go home.”