Rome doesn't pay traitors: they are seeking to expel a lawmaker who wants to overthrow Netanyahu

Likud's parliamentary leader, Ofir Katz, announced that the party's members of parliament will meet on Wednesday to choose a replacement for the current chairman of the influential Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, Member of Parliament Yuli Edelstein.

The decision comes after a week of clashes between Edelstein and the Orthodox parties, United Torah Judaism and Shas, which led to a brief departure of these key government allies.

The reason for the conflict was the processing of a bill to regulate military service for the Haredim.

Edelstein tried to include oversight mechanisms to verify that young people exempted for studying in yeshivot are actually doing so, something that caused strong opposition from the religious parties.

The only request from the religious parties to join the coalition was the approval of a law exempting some young students from compulsory military service. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had accepted this and thus managed to come to power.

But Edelstein, due to personal ambition, seeks to undermine the agreement. This way, the ruling right-wing coalition would fall apart.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been deliberating whether to remove Edelstein from office as a conciliatory gesture toward the Haredi partners, who seek to soften or annul the proposed oversight mechanisms.

Likud's internal vote will take place on Wednesday, and interested candidates must submit their applications by Tuesday at 8:00 p.m.

Among the possible successors, the names of Member of Parliament Boaz Bismuth and Hanoch Milwidsky are being strongly considered. However, Milwidsky is not a permanent member of the committee, so he would need to be formally appointed before he could assume the chairmanship.