Opposition leader Yair Lapid and Blue and White chairman Benny Gantz responded to the Likud faction's decision to remove Juli Edelstein from chairing the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee and appoint MK Boaz Bismuth instead. "A black day for the State of Israel. Bismuth was chosen to promote draft dodging and this is a spit in the face of fighters," Lapid wrote. Gantz said: "Likud decided to turn one of the most important committees in the Knesset into a decorative committee designed to exempt the ultra-Orthodox from service." Former MK Gadi Eisenkot also responded: "Woe to us that this is a decision of the Prime Minister of Israel while continuing to abandon the hostages and prolong the war."