Senior lawmaker Yuli Edelstein, a critic of the government’s bill to exempt Haredi men from military service, has announced he is leaving Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party to forge “a new political path.”

“I don’t intend to run in the Likud primaries. I’ll set off on a new political path,” Edelstein said in a snippet that Channel 12 published Friday from an interview that will air in full Saturday night.

The Likud party primaries are scheduled for August 4, ahead of the national election that is set to take place by October 27. The snippet of the interview did not include any further comment from Edelstein on his plans or rationale.

“There are members who, right now, are surprised to hear what I’m saying, and they’ll say: ‘Yuli, what are you doing? We’ve supported him for decades, we would have supported him this time around, too — why is he doing this?'” Edelstein said in the brief clip.

Former IDF chief Gadi Eisenkot, who polls show is Netanyahu’s lead challenger in the upcoming election, wrote on X that Edelstein’s decision to leave Likud was “worthy of every praise.”

“I hope Yuli Edelstein will be a symbol and example for others in the Likud who aren’t prepared to risk state security and promote draft-dodging for the sake of narrow politics,” Eisenkot said.

Edelstein reportedly in talks to form ‘Likud B’

Channel 12 news reported Thursday that Edelstein recently made progress in talks with former justice minister Ayelet Shaked on forming a more........

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