Veteran Likud MK Yuli Edelstein announced Friday that he is leaving the party and will not run in its upcoming primaries, saying he is embarking on a “new political path.”
Edelstein made the announcement in a short preview clip from a Channel 12 interview scheduled to air in full on Motzoei Shabbos. In the clip, he said he does not intend to take part in the August 4 Likud primaries, but did not elaborate on what his next political move will be.
A longtime senior figure in Likud, Edelstein has served in the party since 2003 and held a number of senior posts over the years. Last year, he was pushed out as chairman of the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee after refusing to advance legislation that would formalize broad military-service exemptions for chareidim.
Edelstein has long been considered an internal rival to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and in 2021 briefly mounted a challenge for the party leadership before withdrawing. His exit now comes just weeks before Likud’s primaries and ahead of national elections that must be held by late October.
(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
