From the Liveblog of
Wednesday, August 5, 2026
Rebel Likud MK Dan Illouz joins Yisrael Beytenu
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleSam 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"
Freshman MK Dan Illouz, who quit Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ruling Likud party last month, will run in the upcoming election with Avigdor Liberman’s hawkish Yisrael Beytenu opposition party.
The Canadian-born attorney previously served as a Jerusalem City Councillor before entering the Knesset in 2023 and became known for his opposition to the coalition’s efforts to legislate draft exemptions for the ultra-Orthodox.
In a statement, Illouz says that he is joining Yisrael Beytenu “because it is the party that today represents the national and liberal values in which I believe.”
פרסום ראשון: ח"כ דן אילוז שעזב את הליכוד מצטרף לליברמן – וישובץ במקום ריאלי
אילוז לצד ליברמן: "הליכוד הפך להיות קבלן ביצוע של דרעי וגולדקנופף"@amit_segal pic.twitter.com/TcgDOSvOrb
— החדשות – N12 (@N12News) August 5, 2026
Welcoming Illouz, Liberman calls him “a principled person who throughout his public career has demonstrated courage, integrity and a willingness to pay a personal price to stand up for his principles.”
Ilouz was unlikely to make it into the Knesset with the Likud Party in the coming election, as he had previously been granted a slot on the slate that is reserved for new immigrants.
After Netanyahu fired Defense Minister Yoav Gallant in 2024 over his opposition to coalition efforts to legislate Haredi draft exemptions, among other things, Illouz, along with fellow former Likud MK Yuli Edelstein, became the party’s sole holdouts against what they saw as the government’s near-complete surrender to its Haredi partners.
After Gallant was axed, the party came after Illouz, stripping him of committee assignments as punishment, barring him from submitting private legislation for weeks and increasingly marginalizing him inside the party.
A committed right-wing ideologue, Illouz backs West Bank annexation, spearheaded a controversial law that earned international ire for barring UNRWA from operating inside Israel and sharply restricting its activities in the West Bank and Gaza, and pushed another law prohibiting the establishment of diplomatic missions in Jerusalem that are not embassies, aimed at entrenching Israel’s claim over the city.
Illouz also opposed hostage deals to free Israelis held in Gaza in exchange for ending the war against Hamas.
The Times of Israel Community.