Netanyahu loyalist Boaz Bismuth voted in to replace Edelstein as head of Knesset defense committee

By Sam Sokol 23 July 2025, 5:59 pm

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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 Boaz Bismuth (left) speaks to fellow party MK Yuli Edelstein in the Knesset on July 23, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Likud MKs vote to replace Yuli Edelstein with Boaz Bismuth as chairman of the powerful Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee.

Only four MKs vote to keep Edelstein in his position, with 29 coming out in favor of Bismuth, a member of the committee and close Netanyahu ally, who will now take over the process of legislating a bill regulating ultra-Orthodox enlistment.

Edelstein is being replaced over his refusal to advance a conscription bill based on a compromise reached with the Haredi parties last month. The change in leadership still needs to clear the Knesset House Committee and the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee itself.

The Israel National News site quotes Bismuth as stating that the combination of Torah study and military service is “beautiful” and that it is “possible to combine the two,” and that a conscription law “is a national matter — not a political one.”