The Likud has removed MK Yuli Edelstein from the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee (FADC) over violations of party discipline, coalition whip Ofir Katz said Wednesday.
Edelstein would be barred from submitting private legislation and speaking on behalf of the Likud faction in the plenum for two months, he said.
Katz attributed Edelstein’s ouster vote to voting “against the party’s position and repeated violations of party discipline.”
Last week, Edelstein voted in favor of the bill to apply sovereignty in Judea and Samaria. The Likud faction said it would abstain from voting.
Edelstein is a “disgruntled Likud member who was recently fired from chairmanship of a Knesset committee,” the Prime Minister’s Office said Wednesday.
Former Prime Minister Naftali Bennet called the decision to replace Edelstein "utterly irresponsible." "There is a long-standing tradition of absolute confidentiality, substantive discussions, and keeping politics out of the room," Bennet wrote on a X (formerly Twitter) post.
"The decision to include a Knesset member currently suspected of exposing classified secrets, violating the Shin Bet Law, and harming national security is utterly irresponsible. This decision reflects a preference for politics over Israel's security and will neutralize this critically essential committee," he said.
"No one will be able to speak freely there anymore, and the vital civilian oversight of the security system will cease to exist. This decision must be canceled immediately," he sentenced.
Yair Golan, chairman of The Democrats, also slammed the decision, "Netanyahu again and again chooses personal loyalty and political interest over the security of the state."
"The appointment of Tali Gottlieb, suspected of exposing classified information and harming state security, to the Foreign Affairs and Security Committee and as a member of the Subcommittee for Secret Services(!) is bringing a fox into the henhouse. A complete loss of values and reason," he wrote in a statement.
Finally, he demanded: "Israel's security is not political currency, nor a tool to trade with in the Likud primaries. This is what leadership looks like that prefers itself over the state."
Eldelstein previously ousted from FADC chairperson position
Edelstein has also criticized the controversial haredi (ultra-Orthodox) conscription law that is being drafted. In July, he was removed as chairman of the FADC, which is the committee responsible for drafting the haredi conscription law.
Edelstein was ousted as chairperson following the resignation of the Knesset’s two haredi parties due to a breakdown in negotiations over the conscription bill that Edelstein was involved in drafting.
Edelstein was replaced by Likud MK Boaz Bismuth, who has been drafting a new outline for the bill, which is to be presented to the committee next Monday.
On Tuesday, Edelstein criticized a leaked version of Bismuth’s outline.
“When I see this bill, I realize that those who dismissed me were right: I don’t have the skills to come up with a draft-dodging scheme instead of a proper conscription law in the midst of an existential war, when our reservists are collapsing,” he said.
Opposition parties Blue and White and Yisrael Beytenu both said they would provide Edelstein with parliamentary tools to support Edelstein.
“At a time when the Israeli government punishes MKs for holding Zionist positions and for fighting for equality in sharing the national burden, Yisrael Beytenu will continue to support all those who fight for the values of Zionism, sovereignty, and equality,” Yisrael Beytenu said.
“MK Edelstein acted rightly in standing up for these values, and we will not allow political punishment to silence courageous voices in the Knesset,” it said.
The Jerusalem Post Staff contributed to this report.