by Leonid Tsukanov
[REGNUM.RU] A serious rift has emerged within Israel's ruling Likud party, led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Yuli (Yoel) Edelstein, a veteran parliamentarian and professional political activist who, just a month ago, was planning to run for a ministerial position in the new government, has left its ranks.
Now, the disgruntled politician intends to challenge his former partners and establish his own party (or even a political bloc) that will fight for a "coherence government." And although Edelstein has only a few months to fully launch his campaign (until the October Knesset elections), he clearly intends to squeeze maximum political gain out of his move.
| Israeli political parties are as fluid as Toad The Wet Sprocket, combining, splitting, and recombining whenever anyone sees an advantage in the next upcoming election. |
A native of Chernivtsi (western Ukraine), Edelstein is a veteran of the Israeli right-wing movement. Entering mainstream politics in the late 1980s, he quickly rose through the ranks, becoming, within a few years, the voice of the late Soviet immigrants in the Jewish state.
In 1996, Edelstein aligned himself with Netanyahu, becoming one of his political allies. Initially, he served as a junior partner (leader of the immigrant party Yisrael Ba'Aliyah), and a few years later, after his party merged with Likud, he became a political figure of equal status.
In total, Netanyahu and Edelstein worked side by side for two decades and at some point even began to be perceived as a full-fledged political tandem.
Edelstein's position is generally typical of the Israeli right: in his view, Israel should look less around to ensure its own security and continue to put national interests above the aspirations of its neighbors.
In addition, from his point of view, the country needs a strong and highly developed army, whose activities are strictly regulated and depoliticized, and volunteer settlers should not run ahead of the army and thereby provoke new conflicts.
In relation to the Gaza Strip and southern Lebanon, the politician also takes a very typical “security-oriented” position: he is a supporter of tough measures and the maximum possible exclusion of Palestinian Hamas and Lebanese Hezbollah from the ruling institutions.
At the same time, unlike Netanyahu, Edelstein considers the scenario of permanent Israeli military control over Gaza to be rather harmful, since, in his opinion, this will fuel discontent among the local population, which Hamas will certainly take advantage of.
For similar reasons, he also does not support the policy of creating permanent “exclusion zones” in Lebanon and Gaza with the accompanying “voluntary-forced” resettlement of local residents.
A QUARREL BETWEEN OLD COMRADES
Despite significant overlapping positions, a crisis had been brewing in the relationship between Edelstein and Netanyahu for several years, caused by the accelerated radicalization of the ruling coalition. In late 2025, it finally entered an open phase: the former allies were unable to agree on a position on the most pressing issues facing Likud.
The stumbling block was the amendment to the draft law for ultra-Orthodox (Haredi) students. Following the Israeli Supreme Court's decision to end the previous system of exempting students from religious schools from military service, the government found itself at a crossroads: under pressure from conservative forces, the prime minister was forced to advocate for a compensation system and additional deferments that would offset the impact of the Haredi draft.
Edelstein, however, proposed a consistent, tough approach, preserving the principle of equality in military service. This was especially true in a context where the Haredim had begun to deliberately exploit the issue to create social tension in the run-up to the elections.
In addition, Edelstein resisted until the very end the adoption of a resolution on the symbolic extension of Israeli sovereignty to all of Judea and Samaria, believing that this could lead to Israel's diplomatic isolation and further worsen its relations with Europe.
It is known that Netanyahu tried several times behind the scenes to reason with his comrade and convince him to support the controversial bill in the name of maintaining government stability, but to no avail.
Ultimately, this cost Edelstein his parliamentary position: in October 2025, the Likud faction supported his replacement as chairman of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee. Officially, this was billed as a rotation, but in reality, it looked more like an attempt to remove legal barriers. This was especially true since Edelstein's successor, Boaz Bismuth, is known for his soft approach toward the Haredim. The frustrated politician responded by ceasing to participate in the drafting and promotion of the faction's bills.
However, for about six months, the parties managed to maintain a semblance of partnership and agreement. Edelstein participated in public events as a Likud representative and even prepared to lead one of the sublists in the upcoming primaries.
However, as subsequent events showed, the politician had been preparing to slam the door all along. In early July, he publicly announced his disillusionment with the coalition's direction and his resignation from the prime minister's party "for ideological reasons." He intended to create his own political alliance that would "help end the crisis in the country."
COLLECTOR OF THE DISSATISFIED
Edelstein is in no rush to lay all his cards on the table and publicly introduce the new political force, nor to detail its program. It's still sketchy and includes only the most basic slogans typical of almost any Israeli right-wing party.
Nevertheless, initial conclusions about his plans can still be drawn from indirect evidence. Specifically, he clearly intends to rely on another systemic player—former Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked of the Yamina alliance. Together, they intend to launch an election platform that will become a magnet for right-wing forces dissatisfied with the current situation in the country.
Among the potential leaders of the electoral list are Samaria Regional Council Deputy Head Davidi Ben-Zion and ultra-Orthodox pro-religion activist Shvut Ra'anan. Former Israeli UN Ambassador Gilad Erdan (also a Likud alumnus) is also being considered as a leading contender, and several other former associates of the prime minister are expected to join him.
Apparently, Edelstein's strategy will be to gather under his banner as many small party and social movements as possible, those lacking a consistent political program or charismatic leaders, and then reforge them into a unified structure. All of these forces are already, to varying degrees, in conflict with Likud and its allies, but are unable to oppose them individually.
Edelstein could indeed become the face of the new bloc and compete on equal terms not only with Yair Golan's Democrats but also with Blue and White (Kahol Lavan), a coalition of "angry patriots," primarily former security officials, who want to see former Defense Minister Benny Gantz as prime minister. Moreover, their potential constituencies overlap significantly.
At the same time, Edelstein's entry into the race as an independent player poses risks for him. Israeli society is extremely polarized and distrusts new parties, especially those attempting to enter the elections in the midst of a campaign, when the general balance of power is already more or less clear. And even more so when new forces break away from larger parties.
This is having an impact on the recognition and overall approval ratings of this yet-to-be-created political force. Edelstein's personal political credentials have yet to translate into party-wide influence. According to recent opinion polls conducted by the Israeli Kantar Institute, a hypothetical Edelstein-Shaked bloc could expect a maximum of six seats in the government, while Likud, even under the most pessimistic projections, would receive at least 23 seats.
It is not surprising that Edelstein's threats to "dramatically change the political landscape" are still very muted for Netanyahu and are unlikely to be taken seriously.
A far greater challenge for the prime minister is the Yashar party, led by former Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot (with a potential 18-22 seats), and the centrist Together platform (led by former prime ministers Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid ), whose supporters are predicted to win 15-17 seats in the Knesset according to recent polls. Both forces could undermine the stability of the ruling cabinet, and if they unite, they could push Likud into the opposition, as happened in 2021.
UNIVERSAL ASSET
However, small parties in Israel are not only rivals but also a valuable strategic resource when forming coalitions. Given that no political force has ever managed to single-handedly win a constitutional majority and control the Knesset, parliamentary heavyweights are willing to bargain with smaller players, promising their leaders ministerial portfolios in exchange for a tactical alliance.
In this sense, Edelstein's party, which positions itself as centrist but in reality is more concerned with repackaging the ruling camp's core ideas with accents that are safer for the mass voter, is becoming a universal asset.
By leveraging his connections with powerful politicians, he could very well apply gentle pressure to Netanyahu to force him to make concessions on specific issues, primarily the status of the ultra-Orthodox. In exchange, he could act as a counterbalance to the new coalition.
For example, allowing Netanyahu to finally sever his toxic relationship with the conservative United Torah Party (projected to win five to six seats), which is currently one of the key lobbyists for leniency for students in religious schools. While nominally part of the ruling coalition, it has effectively boycotted its work since the summer of 2025, preventing the exchange rate from being fully stabilized.
If Netanyahu rejects the support of his former ally, the Edelstein-Shaked bloc could very well offer itself to Eisenkot or Bennett and Lapid. They generally favor his stance on the Gaza Strip and domestic political reforms, and a few additional mandates would allow them to narrow the gap with Likud to a minimum.
In this scenario, Edelstein and his associates have every chance of entering a coalition government as the “new right” – a political force that would symbolize a reassessment of values by former Netanyahu supporters.
And at the same time, it will divide the parliamentary opposition in advance, depriving it of its main propaganda trump card—criticism of the authorities, who "don't hear the voice of the right wing." True, in this case, the positions will be largely symbolic and far removed from any real leverage.
Therefore, between the two options, Edelstein will most likely choose to maintain contacts with his former patron – albeit after serious and lengthy political bargaining.
| More politics: |
Common sense actually wins.
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| Even more politics, courtesy of Cromons Omomosh7726. Note that Bibi has been fighting with Israel’s supreme court and attorney general for years — it was one of the Deep State’s pressure points before Hamas came over the border on 10/7/2023. I’ve been mostly ignoring it, because our interest is the War on Terror, but this seems a good time to catch up: YouTube: Israeli supreme court, drunk with power, issues illegal ruling. Netanyahu states he refuses to recognize it. |
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