Former Likud ministers Gilad Erdan and Yuli Edelstein announced in a statement on Wednesday evening that they will hold a special event on Thursday to announce the establishment of a new right-wing party under Erdan’s leadership.

The still-unnamed party marks the latest attempt by former members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s faction to break off and compete with him. Previous parties of that nature have had a mixed track record; some have ended up rejoining Likud.

Erdan, 55, is a former UN ambassador, and Edelstein quit Likud last month after decades in the party because he opposed its bid to legislate military draft exemptions for yeshiva students.

Erdan and Edelstein signaled on Wednesday that drafting ultra-Orthodox men will be a focus of their party. In a video posted to social media platform X on Wednesday, Erdan addressed reports of the new party’s imminent launch, stating that he was “here to tell you that it’s happening soon, very soon.”

The camera then panned out to show him sitting with Edelstein, the former speaker of the Knesset and head of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee.

After the slogan “right-wing, conscription, unity” appeared onscreen, the video showed the pair ignoring a phone call from United Torah Judaism chairman Yitzhak Goldknopf, who opposes Haredi enlistment, with Edelstein saying “it’s not relevant.”

A poll published by The Times of Israel’s Hebrew sister site Zman Yisrael last week found that a new party headed by Erdan and Edelstein, provisionally dubbed “Likud B,” would win five Knesset seats if elections were held today. But even if it joined with Netanyahu’s opponents, it would fail to end the electoral stalemate predicted in successive surveys.

Decades as senior members of Likud

Erdan first entered the Knesset as a Likud MK in 2003 and has served as public security, communications and regional cooperation minister, among other roles.

He has clashed with Netanyahu over policy,........

© The Times of Israel