Former Likud ministers Gilad Erdan and Yuli Edelstein formally rolled out their new political party at an event Thursday evening in Tel Aviv — without an official name.

Speaking in front of a backdrop reading “Right-wing. Enlistment. Unity,” the two veteran politicians bemoaned the current state of their former party, vowed to make universal IDF service a cornerstone of their platform and promised to only join a broad consensus government.

“Tonight I am parting from the political home in which I grew up for more than 30 years,” Erdan said in his speech at the party’s official rollout. “Unfortunately, I can no longer call it home — because Likud’s elected representatives no longer represent the Likud voters whom I love so much.”

Erdan first entered the Knesset with Likud in 2003 and went on to serve as public security, communications and regional cooperation minister, and from 2020-2024 held the role of Israeli ambassador to the United Nations.

Edelstein — a former refusenik who moved to Israel from the Soviet Union in 1987 — first entered the Knesset with the Yisrael B’Aliyah party in 1996 before it merged with Likud in 2003. He has served as health minister, speaker of the Knesset and chairman of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee.

He was ousted as FADC chairman by his own party last year after he insisted on tougher sanctions against Haredi draft dodgers, and last month he announced he was quitting Likud because he opposed its bid to legislate military draft exemptions for yeshiva students.

The lawmakers did not, however, explicitly rule out sitting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a future government. In response to a question Thursday evening, Erdan said he would not deal with “disqualifications or personal boycotts,” adding that “as long as Netanyahu is elected by the people, it is his right and his duty to serve as prime minister.”

“We will of course respect any democratic decision by the people,........

© The Times of Israel