Likud MK Dan Illouz announced Wednesday that he would resign, arguing that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s party had “been hijacked” amid the recent raft of controversial legislation the coalition has pushed through the Knesset, aimed at appeasing the ultra-Orthodox parties.

“I simply cannot call on you to vote for a party that I myself am no longer able to vote for,” Illouz wrote in a post on Facebook.

“The truth is, immediately after October 7, it was clear to everyone that Netanyahu had to end his term,” he continued. “Instead of standing before the public and asking for forgiveness, the Likud is doing everything to evade responsibility.”

“From evading responsibility for October 7, to promoting schemes ]exempting ultra-Orthodox yeshiva students from military service[ while our voters are collapsing in the reserves, to surrendering to interest groups that are raising the cost of living for all of us. This is no longer the Likud Party. This is a party that has been hijacked,” he said.

“The draft exemption saga is a disgrace that made it clear to me that my place is no longer in the Likud,” Illouz said.

“While the IDF is warning of collapse under the burden, Likud has chosen continued surrender to the Haredi parties and promoted schemes to institutionalize evasion,” he said, arguing that at this point, a vote for Likud is........

© The Times of Israel