{
  "id": 187622,
  "title": "MK Dan Illouz joins Yisrael Beytenu after Likud departure, says Netanyahu ‘failed country’",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/05/mk-dan-illouz-joins-yisrael-beytenu-after-likud-departure-says",
  "topic": "culture",
  "section": "Culture",
  "published": "2026-08-05T19:38:59.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Jerusalem Post",
    "slug": "jerusalem-post",
    "url": "https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/politics-and-diplomacy/article-904701"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Dan Illouz, a recent member of Knesset representing Likud, announced his departure from the party and support for Yisrael Beytenu leader Avigdor Liberman for prime minister. \"Netanyahu has failed in leading the country, and he must take responsibility and go home,\" Illouz declared. He criticized the Likud party for becoming \"a subcontractor\" for haredi party leaders Arye Deri and Yitzhak Goldknopf.\n\nIllouz, a lawyer by profession, immigrated to Israel from Canada with a deep commitment to the nation. He criticized Netanyahu's coalition's haredi-backed legislation that critics argued would encourage draft evasion due to a severe manpower shortage in the IDF. Illouz left Likud last month, stating he could no longer support a party he could not vote for.\n\nIllouz has been a vocal critic of the coalition's legislation concerning haredi conscription to the IDF. The opposition Yisrael Beytenu party, in which Illouz has joined, holds a hardline stance on haredi conscription and advocates for expanding Israeli settlements in the West Bank, while strongly advocating for a separation of religion and state.\n\nIllouz, who joined Knesset in 2023, had been a member of Likud's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee during the government's term and was a vocal critic of the coalition's contentious legislation dealing with haredi conscription. He joined Yisrael Beytenu because it represents the national and liberal values he believes in.",
  "summary": "\"I am joining Yisrael Beiteinu because it is the party that today represents the national and liberal values in which I believe,” Illouz was quoted as saying by the party.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}