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 a Basic Law declaring Torah study a “foundational value,” which is meant to block the High Court from ordering yeshiva students to enlist.

Less than 24 hours after the vote on the arrest freeze, Illouz announced that he was quitting the party altogether, declaring that Likud had been “hijacked” and that he could no longer ask Israelis to vote for it.

The breakup was mutual. Born and raised in Montreal, Illouz had entered the Knesset in 2023 via Likud’s reserved slot for new immigrants. But after years of open defiance, he faced slim chances of winning a spot high enough on the Likud slate to return him to the parliament.

For much of the current Knesset term, Illouz occupied an increasingly isolated position within the party over his public opposition to preserving draft exemptions and state benefits for yeshiva students.

After Netanyahu fired Defense Minister Yoav Gallant in 2024 over his opposition to coalition efforts to legislate Haredi draft exemptions, among other things, Illouz, along with fellow outgoing Likud MK Yuli Edelstein, became the party’s sole holdouts against what they saw as the government’s near-complete surrender to its Haredi partners.

After Gallant was axed, the party came after Illouz, stripping him of committee assignments as punishment, barring him from submitting private legislation for weeks, and increasingly marginalizing him inside the party.

The MK insists that it is not he who abandoned Likud, but Likud that has abandoned what he calls its “traditional values.”

A committed right-wing ideologue, Illouz backs West Bank annexation, spearheaded a controversial law that earned international ire for barring UNRWA from operating inside Israel and sharply restricting its activities in the West Bank and Gaza, and pushed another law prohibiting the establishment of diplomatic missions in Jerusalem that are not embassies, aimed at entrenching Israel’s claim over the city. Illouz also opposed hostage deals to free Israelis held in Gaza in exchange for ending the war against Hamas.

For Illouz and other dissenters, Likud’s commitment to right-wing values and policies has been sacrificed on the altar of ultra-Orthodox coalition demands, particularly regarding military service.

While continuing to portray itself as the standard-bearer of the Israeli right and the guardian of Israel’s security, the party has in practice undermined the army, seeking to preserve broad military exemptions for the ultra-Orthodox despite the Israel Defense Force’s severe manpower shortage and endemic reservist fatigue — after presiding over the worst security disaster in the state’s history.

“We spoke like a right-wing party and told the people of Israel we would implement right-wing policies, but we did everything except that,” Illouz told The Times of Israel in a recent interview.

According to Illouz, the party is not driven by ideology or policy today, but by a determination to stay in power, with Netanyahu willing to pay any price his ultra-Orthodox demand in exchange for their support.

“If you vote Likud today, you’re voting for [United Torah Judaism leader Yitzhak] Goldknopf and [Shas head Aryeh] Deri. If someone doesn’t want to give that type of power to the Haredi parties, then he can’t vote Likud anymore,” he said.

With Illouz’s departure and the ejection of the last slivers of internal dissent, Netanyahu’s control of the party now appears more assured and less impeded than ever.

Nearly three years after October 7 — the greatest security failure in Israel’s history – the prime minister has survived what many expected would end his political career. He completed a full four-year term, resisted mounting calls for a state commission of inquiry, and emerged from months of internal battles with unprecedented influence over the party’s Knesset slate ahead of October’s election.

Yet that internal dominance has not translated into electoral strength. Likud has spent months polling at roughly 20-22 seats, down sharply from the 32 it currently holds, and remains unable in most surveys to assemble a governing coalition without reaching across the aisle, while chief rival Gadi Eisenkot’s Yashar is steadily rising and within reach of forming a coalition made up of parties opposed to Netanyahu and his allies.

Speaking to The Times of Israel in late July, Illouz argued that Netanyahu has succeeded in dominating Likud, but has also made it incapable of winning back the broader Israeli public.

The interview has been edited for clarity.

The Times of Israel: You announced that you were leaving Likud following the passing of the law to freeze the arrests of draft dodgers, which you have opposed for a long time. Why leave now?

Dan Illouz: Throughout the Knesset term, I was the leading voice within the coalition against continuing a situation in which a large percentage of the country doesn’t serve in the army, while we desperately need soldiers, and reservists are serving hundreds of days every year.

In the last week of the Knesset’s term, Prime Minister Netanyahu decided to give the ultra-Orthodox parties everything they wanted. They passed two laws that together give them the tools, at least in the short term, to continue not serving in the army, receive tons of benefits from the state, while the army remains desperate for soldiers and the ultra-Orthodox community has no incentive to serve. That’s not something that I can be a part of.

At what point did you know that you didn’t see your future in Likud?

I’ve been thinking about my future in Likud for a long time, ever since October 7, because it was a mega-event. As a freshman MK with no real national security responsibility, I asked myself what I could have done differently to stop this horrific thing from happening.

When I looked around, I saw a prime minister doing everything he could to avoid taking responsibility. That’s not something that I feel is right or the right type of leadership for the country. We saw that with his efforts to prevent a [state commission of] inquiry into how or why October 7 happened, and many different things that he’s been doing in the last few years, but that was my main breaking point.

If that was such a major moment for you, why did you choose to remain in the government and leave almost three years later?

Because I was one of the only people in the coalition fighting against the non-enlistment of the Haredim. If I had left, I would have given my vote to the next person [on the list], and that would have allowed a lot of bad legislation to pass. The responsible thing to do was to fight the fight from within and not flee.

I’m not criticizing him because he left for many different reasons, but when Gallant resigned from the Knesset, his vote just went to the next person in line. And when we were trying to stop the laws that passed in the last week of the Knesset, I can tell you that it would have helped a lot if we had an extra vote.

I was elected to represent the people who voted Likud and wanted a Zionist party and Zionist principles in the Knesset from a right-wing party. I felt that the right thing for me was to keep representing them in the Knesset, and that’s what I did.

There have been a few other defections, including Yuli Edelstein and New Hope’s Sharon Haskel, but it’s a small number. Do you think that others within Likud share your views about the party but are too afraid to leave, or are you in the minority?

There are many other MKs that agree with me on these issues. Some of them are just not courageous enough to stand up to the party leadership.

Some of them really believe that it’s more important for Likud to be in power, for whatever reason, than to hold strong on these issues. I completely disagree — I think that the reason why a right-wing government needs to be in power is for us to advance our agenda, which includes supporting the army.

If we’re in power but we don’t advance this agenda, then what use is power?

Some have suggested that your decision to leave Likud is really because you knew after breaking ranks on issues like the Haredi draft exemption, you were unlikely to be reelected in the party primaries. How do you respond to that?

They’re forgetting one very important fact: I knew exactly the political price that I would pay for my positions when I took them. It was very clear that there would be a political price, and I paid it proudly because I entered politics to advance values and principles, not to just sit on a comfortable chair and call myself a member of Knesset.

So you expected to be punished electorally or politically?

I knew that there was a very strong chance that that would happen, and I did it anyway. But the fact that others didn’t stand with me and promote those values, which are Likud values, right-wing values, and the values we were elected to promote, that’s part of the reason that I knew Likud was not a home for me anymore.

Is Likud today, as you see it, a right-wing party? Is it a Zionist party?

Likud has become a party more intent on keeping power than promoting any type of policy. Whatever title you give them, it doesn’t really matter because Likud will do what it can to stay in power.

When I look back at the last term, we spoke like a right-wing party and told the people of Israel we would implement right-wing policies, but we did everything except that.

When it comes to security, yes, the army has had some incredible victories, but every single front that we fought is still open today. We haven’t actually brought victory on any of the different fronts.

And the alliance with the Haredim makes it impossible to bring the soldiers to the army that it so desperately needs.

What exactly has gone wrong with the party in your view?

Netanyahu claimed, and I think he’s partly right, that he needs more control over the [electoral] list to bring good people, because the people of Israel are sick and tired of the Likud list, which is often very aggressive, not very constructive, and isn’t seen very highly among the general Israeli public.

It’s not true of everyone in Likud. You also have some very good MKs, but when I was in the Knesset, hearing other Likud MKs yell at other people and the way they conduct themselves, it just made me feel a lot of shame. It didn’t make me feel proud of being a Likudnik. I’ve spoken to Likudnikim in the field also, voters, and they feel the same way.

So I understand Netanyahu, but he thinks that this will solve his electoral problem, and he’s wrong.

Likud is doing badly right now in the polls not only because of their list, but because of the policies that Netanyahu has led over the last few years: the security policy, which hasn’t brought us victory on any front, and a policy of total surrender to the Haredi parties.

If you vote Likud today, you’re voting for Goldknopf and Deri. If someone doesn’t want to give that type of power to the Haredi parties, then he can’t vote Likud anymore.

These are all things that the prime minister led, so changing the list won’t change that. The prime minister is still the prime minister. Netanyahu is still Netanyahu.

You’ve recently said that after October 7, there were a sizable number of Likud MKs who wanted Netanyahu to resign. Were there any subsequent efforts made or discussions had to try to bring that to fruition?

At least a third of the party wanted it because they understood that after October 7 — after such a mega event — you needed a leadership change. Not immediately after October 7, but a few months afterwards, there were attempts to try and see who could replace him, but it failed because everyone was fighting over who would be the right person to replace him. So, because of ego, it never happened.

There were also Netanyahu loyalists who remained firm that he shouldn’t step down. It’s kind of ironic and funny to see some of the people that are doing the most to stay in Netanyahu’s favor today when I know that they were part of the attempts to replace him then.

You have to remember that after October 7, there was a close consensus in Israel that all of the military, security, and political leadership had to change. Maybe Netanyahu’s greatest political achievement was to actually remain in office for the full four-year term, hoping that people would forget what happened on October 7.

Ultimately, I think he’s wrong, and we’ll see in the election results that no one has forgotten. It’s impossible to forget the hours we saw people crying from their [safe rooms] and asking for help, and no one came. Even though there are some people who, after some time, have gone back to supporting Netanyahu, I think that the great majority of Israelis haven’t forgotten October 7 and want change.

Let’s talk about what your plans are now. Do you plan to remain in politics and join another party?

During the Knesset term, I received a lot of phone calls to see if I would be interested in other options, but I always told them that I didn’t want to consider anything until the Knesset was dissolved, because I was still representing the people who voted for Likud.

But since the Knesset was dissolved, I have started looking into things. I hope to keep on serving the people of Israel, and I’d like to do that from the Knesset, but I won’t stay in the Knesset at any price — only if I find a home that allows me to promote the values that I believe are right for Israel.

Have you been in talks with Edelstein or Haskel or the other people reported to be forming a breakaway right-wing party?

Would you be willing to sit in a government composed of the current opposition parties with Eisenkot or Naftali Bennett likely at its head?

All options are on the table. I’m looking for a party that allows me to promote my right-wing conservative values.

A red line for me in the next coalition is that it cannot be a coalition that includes non-Zionist parties, including the ultra-Orthodox parties that do everything they can to prevent the Haredi community from integrating into Israeli society, which Israel needs desperately, or Arab parties, not because they’re Arab but because they are non-Zionist.

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