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Yuli Edelstein

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, left, attends a Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee meeting alongside Likud MK Yuli Edelstein at the Knesset on June 13, 2023. (Oren Ben Hakoon/Flash90)
Tal Schneider
Analysis
Tal Schneider
Joining legion of Likud castoffs, Edelstein may not yet be clear of Netanyahu’s pull
Splitting from the party that already quit him, the former Knesset speaker becomes the latest senior Likud politician to strike out on his own, though breaking free may not be so simple
MK Yuli Edelstein attends a House Committee meeting at the Knesset in Jerusalem on August 4, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
July 4, 2026, 10:50 pm
Edelstein: I left Likud because I couldn’t defend its agenda; seeks ‘broad’ coalition
Senior lawmaker tells Channel 12 ‘We need to make a change in this country,’ can’t ‘continue to allow freeloading’; Lapid: Bennett better suited to be PM than me at present
By ToI Staff and Jeremy Sharon
MK Yuli Edelstein delivers a statement at the Knesset in Jerusalem on July 15, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
July 3, 2026, 9:37 pm
Senior Likud renegade Yuli Edelstein leaving party to forge a ‘new political path’
Ex-refusenik, who broke with government over its efforts to exempt Haredim from IDF service, said to be in talks to join possible ‘statesmanlike’ alternative to Netanyahu’s party
By ToI Staff
Left: Likud MK Yuli Edelstein attends a Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee meeting at the Knesset in Jerusalem, December 9, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90); right: Former Likud MK Gilad Erdan takes part in a ceremony for a bulletproof ambulance donated by the Harvest Christian Fellowship to Magen David Adom, at the Tower of David, in the Old City of Jerusalem, June 1, 2025. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
May 27, 2026, 11:20 pm
Veteran Likud members Erdan, Edelstein said to make progress toward forming new party
Initial understandings reportedly reached in talks for alternative right-wing party to challenge Netanyahu is upcoming election; decisions said expected in next 2 weeks
By Ariela Karmel and Sam Sokol
Brig. Gen. Shay Tayeb, head of the IDF Personnel Directorate’s Planning and Personnel Management Division, at a Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee meeting at the Knesset, May 20, 2026. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
May 21, 2026, 12:03 am
Army complains of manpower shortage as Knesset restarts work on draft exemption bill
‘We will very soon reach the region of ​​80,000-90,000 draft dodgers,’ IDF official tells MKs, as PM launches last-ditch campaign to pass law sparing Haredim from conscription
By Sam Sokol
An inauguration ceremony for the repopulated West Bank settlement of Homesh, more than 20 years after it was evacuated in the 2005 disengagement, March 12, 2026, in a photo distributed by the Samaria Regional Council. (Roy Hadi)
March 12, 2026, 6:45 pm
Government officials mark repopulation of Homesh settlement in West Bank
More than 20 years after disengagement, Settlements Minister Orit Strock calls return of residents atonement for ‘sins’ of 2005, as Likud MK Yuli Edelstein vows ‘Homesh will be just the beginning’
By Jeremy Sharon
MK Yuli Edelstein attends a Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee at the Knesset in Jerusalem, September 17, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
November 28, 2025, 2:43 pm
Ousted chair of Knesset defense panel: Government pushing ‘exact opposite’ of a conscription law
Likud MK Yuli Edelstein, who backed stricter measure, says critics inside coalition of bill exempting yeshiva students from IDF service will face ‘threats’ ahead of vote on legislation
By Sam Sokol
MK Boaz Bismuth attends a Knesset House Committee meeting, August 4, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
November 12, 2025, 7:07 pm
Draft exemption bill stuck as coalition faces internal dissension, Haredi demands
A number of MKs in Netanyahu’s coalition have expressed opposition to Haredi draft legislation but ‘it remains to be seen whether they will be able to stand firm,’ says Edelstein
By Sam Sokol
Ultra-Orthodox Jews gather around an Israeli soldier playing the piano at the Yitzhak Navon train station in Jerusalem, on their way to attend the Haredi protest against IDF conscription on October 30, 2025 (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
October 30, 2025, 2:35 pm
Daily Briefing Oct. 30: Day 755 – Law and politics in the Haredi anti-draft rally
Political correspondent Sam Sokol and legal reporter Jeremy Sharon discuss Haredi conscription, in Knesset and at court; MK Yuli Edelstein’s ouster from committee; and Sde Teiman leak probe
By Jessica Steinberg, Sam Sokol and Jeremy Sharon
MK Tally Gotliv attends a Constitution, Law and Justice Committee meeting, at the Knesset in Jerusalem, October 27, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
October 29, 2025, 11:54 pm
Likud firebrand Tally Gotliv to replace Edelstein on key Knesset defense committee
Bennett slams ‘extremely irresponsible’ appointment of rabble-rousing MK who exposed a Shin Bet agent in a conspiracy theory she posted about Hamas’s invasion and anti-government protesters
By ToI Staff
MK Yuli Edelstein attends a Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee meeting, September 3, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
October 29, 2025, 2:17 pm
Likud boots Edelstein from defense panel for ‘violations of faction discipline’
Move would prevent veteran MK from opposing government bill regulating Haredi enlistment while it’s in committee; replacement not yet announced
By Sam Sokol
MK Boaz Bismuth, chair of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, leads a committee meeting at the Knesset, September 17, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
October 29, 2025, 11:09 am
Revised ultra-Orthodox military draft bill said to reduce penalties for dodgers
Proposal from Knesset defense panel chair Boaz Bismuth reportedly eases criteria for exemptions, softens other measures; critics pan it as a ‘disgrace’
By Ariela Karmel and ToI Staff
Likud MK Yuli Edelstein attends a meeting of the Knesset House Committee, August 4, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
October 22, 2025, 9:48 pm
Likud to kick Edelstein off Knesset defense panel after he votes for annexation bill
Former Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee chair says ‘dismissal is a moral badge of honor for me’; opposition MK: Netanyahu wants yes-men
By Sam Sokol
MK Boaz Bismuth chairs a meeting of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, September 3, 2025. (Noam Moskowitz, Office of the Knesset Spokesperson)
September 3, 2025, 11:17 pm
Scrapping a year’s work, Knesset panel reboots talks on bill regulating Haredi conscription
‘It’s a shame to go through the whole process again only to reach the same point,’ former chairman Yuli Edelstein tells Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee
By Sam Sokol
IDF troops in Gaza in a photograph released by the IDF on August 12. (IDF Spokesman)
August 13, 2025, 11:21 pm
Coalition, lacking majority, postpones vote to extend call-up of IDF reservists
Absence of ousted committee chair Yuli Edelstein and second MK forces another delay on extending emergency reserve call-ups ahead of end-of-month deadline
By Ariela Karmel
Ultra-Orthodox soldiers from the Hasmonean Brigade take part in a ceremony, after completing seven months of basic and advanced training, at the Western Wall in Jerusalem's Old City on August 6, 2025. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
August 6, 2025, 4:26 pm
New Haredi brigade finishes combat training amid ongoing schism over enlistment
Hasmonean Brigade troops are meant to demonstrate that military service can go hand in hand with ultra-Orthodox observance: ‘There is nothing more Jewish than defending the Land of Israel’
By Emanuel Fabian and Sam Sokol
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