Former Israeli UN ambassador Gilad Erdan said on Tuesday that he was working toward establishing a new right-wing party, separate from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ruling Likud, ahead of the upcoming elections, and that he sees himself as a candidate for premier in a post-Netanyahu era.
The remarks came amid recent reports that senior figures on Israel’s political right have been holding talks on forming a new “statesmanlike” right-wing party, informally referred to as “Likud B.” Erdan has served in various ministerial roles under Netanyahu for years as a member of Likud.
Erdan said he was trying to establish a right-wing party that “would not rely on extremists” in a Tuesday interview with Army Radio.
He said he was working toward a “government of national reconciliation.”
“There are hundreds of thousands of Israelis who have no alternative who do not want a coalition that relies on extremist sides,” he added.
Erdan ‘knows what the State of Israel needs’
Erdan explained that he could see himself as prime minister because he had served in senior positions in the country and believes he knows what is required for the role, in a separate Tuesday 103FM interview.
“For many years I served in the most senior positions, whether diplomatic roles or positions in the government and Knesset, and I believe I know what the State of Israel needs,” he said.
Erdan served as Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations for four years, from 2020 to 2024. He previously served as Israel’s ambassador to the US.
He was a member of the Knesset for Likud for years and held several ministerial positions under Netanyahu.
The ministerial portfolios included serving as environmental protection minister, communications minister, interior minister, public security minister, strategic affairs and public diplomacy minister, and regional cooperation minister.
Erdan explained that the reason he was considering establishing a new right-wing party was that “issues are tearing Israeli society apart from within.”
“Our ultra-Orthodox brothers are truly being held captive today by their political operatives, who are keeping them hostage.”
“The Israeli economy also will not be able to survive over time in this way. The Arab sector, in my view, also seems to suffer from a similar problem,” he added.
“The goal is to create a political force that will basically say: enough, we are not willing to accept this anymore.”
“We will not join a narrow government that depends either on one sector or on one extremist group or another,” Erdan explained.
Current Knesset members not role models for children
Regarding the current conduct within Likud, Erdan said he was “not going to start handing out grades to the Likud or to what is happening inside it.” He explained that the public was “intelligent enough to understand that if I felt comfortable with what is currently happening within the Likud, I would have returned to political activity.”
He also criticized current members of Knesset and ministers, saying that Israeli parents could no longer look at them as an example for their children.
Erdan noted that he was not set on the plans to form the new party and was currently examining whether it was politically feasible.
“There is no point in doing something that has no political viability,” he added.
The names raised in connection with talks about forming the alternative Likud party were Erdan, Likud MK Yuli Edelstein, former finance minister Moshe Kahlon, and Deputy Foreign Minister Sharren Haskel, according to an N12 report last month.
The initiative was said to be advanced by right-wing figures, many of whom have had strained relations with Netanyahu, according to the report. The stated goal is to help create a broad government without extremist parties, amid polls showing no decisive shift between Israel’s political blocs.
The party would not be committed in advance either to Netanyahu’s bloc or to a potential alliance led by rival candidates in the upcoming elections, former prime minister Naftali Bennett or Yashar! party leader Gadi Eisenkot, the report added.
General elections are scheduled to take place no later than October 27.
