After quitting Likud, Dan Illouz says party sold out principles to hang onto power

Ariela Karmel is a political correspondent at The Times of Israel. She previously reported for Calcalist and Haaretz. She holds an MA in Middle Eastern and African History from Tel Aviv University and a BA in Political Science from the University of British Columbia.In the final days of the outgoing Knesset, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government sped through a series of controversial laws, one measure was sufficiently beyond the pale to spur a number of coalition lawmakers to mutiny.The law, which freezes enforcement measures against ultra-Orthodox men refusing mandatory military enlistment, particularly arrests, was meant to answer a key demand of Netanyahu’s Haredi coalition partners, who want to legislate exemptions for their community.The measure passed comfortably, but not unanimously. Among the four coalition lawmakers who broke ranks was Likud MK Dan Illouz, one of the most vocal critics of Haredi draft exemptions. A day earlier, Illouz had voted against…

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