With about four months left until the election, political defections are accelerating, and two outspoken lawmakers are reportedly exploring a new home. According to ynet, Moshe Solomon of Religious Zionism and Dan Iluz of Likud are in contact with the Reservists party led by Yoaz Hendel.
Iluz denied the report, saying there were no talks about joining the party. Solomon said, “I am not conducting talks through the pages of the press,” adding that he would speak publicly if and when there was something to announce.
Both MKs have emerged as dissenting voices in their parties. They have sharply criticized the coalition-backed draft exemption bill and the Basic Law on Torah Study, which was meant to bypass efforts to draft ultra-Orthodox Israelis and other draft evaders into military or civilian service. Iluz has said he would oppose the exemption bill even under faction discipline, and in an interview last month he warned that Likud’s partnership with the ultra-Orthodox leadership was “a danger to the State of Israel.”
Solomon voted against the Torah study Basic Law about two weeks ago, against faction discipline, and was harshly reprimanded by his party. Religious Zionism chairman and minister Bezalel Smotrich then removed him from the Knesset committees on which he served. Behind the scenes, party officials said Smotrich also learned Solomon was speaking with the Reservists party, and one senior official said, “He was intoxicated by the fact that other parties want him and are negotiating with him, so he allowed himself to behave like this and vote against the faction’s decisions.” The official added that he would “no longer be an MK on behalf of Religious Zionism.”
Hendel confirmed on Wednesday night that he intends to recruit both Solomon and Iluz. Referring to a Channel 13 poll showing his party crossing the electoral threshold, he said he wants to strengthen its appeal among right-wing voters who support reservists. “I will bring both of them to us,” he said, accusing the current coalition of backing draft evasion and transferring budgets to ultra-Orthodox parties while reservists keep “getting worn down again and again.”
