As he officially rejoins government, Sa’ar blasts opposition for ‘living in Oct. 6’
New Hope leader delivers fiery Knesset speech to heckling from colleagues, calls opposition MKs ‘gang of liars,’ says Nasrallah would still be alive if PM had listened to Lapid
New Hope party leader Gideon Sa’ar formally entered the government Monday, marking his return to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing coalition by immediately launching into a vigorous denunciation of his former opposition partners.
A week after dropping highly controversial plans to join the government as defense minister in place of Yoav Gallant, Sa’ar was voted in 57-40 to become a minister without portfolio.
“To those who still live in [the world of] October 6, I have a word of friendly advice: Move on,” he said from the Knesset podium, accusing his political rivals of never having adjusted to the historical moment, almost one year after Hamas’s cross-border onslaught started the ongoing war.
“From October 7, my line has been consistent: to put aside the ‘wars between the Jews’ and to advance the war against our enemies,” he said.
The addition of Sa’ar and three other New Hope lawmakers now brings Netanyahu’s coalition to 68 of the Knesset’s 120 seats, affording the prime minister a measure of political maneuverability, with pressure building over the swiftly widening war in the north and fading efforts to reach a deal freeing hostages held in Gaza for nearly a year.
Sa’ar has been pilloried for rejoining the government of the man he once said he would refuse to serve under. The former Likud lawmaker and minister joined the coalition as part of the National Unity alliance with Benny Gantz following the October 7 Hamas invasion and slaughter in southern Israel. But Sa’ar’s New Hope quit the alliance with Gantz in March and weeks later announced his party’s departure from the government.
Critics say his return to the fold now is the result of dire polls that indicate his tiny party would be wiped out in any new election, rather than a principled stance.
Members of the opposition swiftly denounced the move, and continued to assail it in their own speeches on Monday, with Opposition Leader Yair Lapid saying of Sa’ar’s conduct: “What a show, what an insult.”
ח"כ גדעון סער עקץ את אפרת רייטן: "אותך יזכרו בעיקר מערוץ הילדים". חברת הכנסת הגיבה בבוז. וגם: העקיצה לנעמה לזימי ויאיר גולן @gidonsaar @Efratrayten1 @naamalazimi @YairGolan1 pic.twitter.com/FIIbXX88nX
— ערוץ כנסת (@KnessetT) September 30, 2024
“Two people who hate each other, who don’t believe a word the other says, pretending that a political arrangement of the lowest kind is an act of patriotism,” Lapid said from the rostrum, alleging that “the sole purpose of this wretched arrangement is to pass the draft evasion law.”
Ultra-Orthodox lawmakers have been pushing for a law to reenable exemptions of Haredi yeshiva students from military conscription after the High Court of Justice ruled the current situation illegal. There have been reports that Sa’ar has agreed to help Netanyahu pass such a bill, though he has denied this, and an exemption bill is also expected to face intense opposition from within Likud.
“In the middle of a war, at a time when thousands have been wounded, more than 700 soldiers have been killed, [Haredi leaders] Deri and Goldknopf have forced a deal on Netanyahu: a padded seat for Sa’ar, in exchange for the abandonment of our soldiers,” Lapid claimed.
Speaking before he was voted in, Sa’ar ripped into opposition lawmakers as do-nothings for refusing to also join alongside him, sparring with former colleagues from the rostrum as they continued to heckle him.
“I’m here to pass the draft-dodger law? Lies,” he charged, calling his former colleagues a “gang of liars.”
The New Hope leader accused fellow MKs of “a blood libel about the state commission of inquiry, [and] about the hostages,” referring to pressure on Netanyahu to form the top-level investigative body to probe the state’s failures during Hamas’s attack last year, as well as to assertions that the prime minister has intentionally obstructed a deal for the release of remaining captives.
“What are you giving the state?” Sa’ar thundered at the opposition. “What do you add to national resilience? What do you influence? Nothing at all.”
Sa’ar took specific aim at Lapid, mocking him for ostensibly backing a Lebanon ceasefire proposal that the US says initially carried the full support of Netanyahu, and for calling for an end to fighting in Gaza.
“You called in January to end the war; you said several times we shouldn’t enter Rafah, or that we shouldn’t enter without an agreement with the Egyptians, which any child knows is impossible,” he said.
“If they had listened, God forbid, to your suggestions, all the excellent IDF operations, all the destruction of their capabilities ordered by the government would not have happened,” he said.
“Had they accepted your position, [Hezbollah chief] Hassan Nasrallah would be alive, and with him, all of Hezbollah’s command,” Sa’ar added.
(Lapid had in fact declared that Israel should not agree to the 21-day ceasefire in Lebanon proposed by the US, but to a seven-day ceasefire during which Hezbollah must agree to Israel’s terms, saying anything longer would allow the terror organization to regroup after the blows it had suffered.)
After Labor MK Efrat Rayten asked what Sa’ar would be remembered for, the New Hope leader responded: “You asked what they will remember me for? You will be remembered mainly from the Children’s Channel,” referring to the lawmaker’s earlier career as a television host, before she retrained as a lawyer prior to her election.
Rayten later responded to Sa’ar in a statement, saying, “I’m proud of my career, there’s no blot on the record of what I’ve done for others — you suck up to Netanyahu because you know that’s the only way you’ll advance.”
Sa’ar also took aim at Labor MK Naama Lazimi, who accused him of selling out the country for his political future. “I heard your words. You spoke about polls. You’ve spent much more time in the last few years below the electoral threshold than I have,” he taunted.
“You’re still young, in politics things change — have patience,” he told her.
Sa’ar also claimed that nobody in the opposition had attempted to talk him out of rejoining Netanyahu: “I was surprised that none of you, not an MK or party head, not a-one, in all the past weeks, came to hear my take or try to convince me or be convinced by me,” he said, addressing opposition lawmakers. “You immediately launched into defamation, libels and lies.”
At the conclusion of his speech, Sa’ar was welcomed by his new colleagues in the government with embraces.
