Likud Lawmaker Dan Illouz Resigns, Citing Haredi Draft-Exemption Push

Likud MK Dan Illouz announced on Wednesday that he will leave the party and will not run in the upcoming Likud primaries. In a Facebook post he wrote that he can no longer “call on you to vote for a party that I myself am no longer able to vote for,” adding that the party’s recent legislation “exempt[ing] ultra-Orthodox yeshiva students from military service while our voters are collapsing in the reserves” demonstrates that “the Likud Party … has been hijacked.” Illouz said the move reflects his objection to what he describes as “continued surrender to the Haredi parties” and the institutionalization of draft evasion.

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The resignation follows the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack, after which Illouz claimed about a third of Likud lawmakers sought to remove Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu via a no-confidence vote rather than elections, given the ongoing war. In the weeks that followed, the coalition passed a law temporarily banning the arrest and prosecution of ultra-Orthodox men evading military service, effectively legalizing mass Haredi non-enlistment. The High Court of Justice subsequently froze the law’s implementation and ordered an expedited hearing.

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Emanuel Weiser, a judge on Likud’s internal court, submitted a resignation letter stating, “I hope, and will act, so that in the coming elections Likud is weakened and forced to ally with right-wing parties that have a moral backbone, which will not surrender to Haredi extortion.” The party’s leadership has not publicly countered Illouz’s accusations, but the internal court’s decision underscores growing dissent within Likud over the Haredi legislative agenda.

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Illouz and other defectors argue that the party’s alignment with Haredi interests raises the cost of living and undermines national defense. He warned that “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,” equating a Likud vote with voting for the Haredi parties Shas or United Torah Judaism.

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• “I simply cannot call on you to vote for a party that I myself am no longer able to vote for,” — Dan Illouz, Facebook post

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• “The truth is, immediately after October 7, it was clear to everyone that Netanyahu had to end his term,” — Dan Illouz, Facebook post

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• “When something like October 7 happens, a country that wants to survive cannot simply carry on as usual,” — Dan Illouz, Ynet interview

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• “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,” — Dan Illouz, resignation statement

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• “I hope, and will act, so that in the coming elections Likud is weakened and forced to ally with right-wing parties that have a moral backbone, which will not surrender to Haredi extortion,” — Emanuel Weiser, resignation letter

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