Ex-allies Eisenkot, Sa’ar trade barbs over Sa’ar’s decision to rejoin government

Sam Sokol is the Times of Israel's political correspondent. He was previously a reporter for the Jerusalem Post, Jewish Telegraphic Agency and Haaretz. He is the author of "Putin’s Hybrid War and the Jews"

Then-justice minister and head of the New Hope party Gideon Sa'ar, right, and Blue and White MK Gadi Eisenkot hold a press conference announcing the merger of their parties into the National Unity alliance, in Ramat Gan, August 14, 2022. (Tomer Neuberg/Flash90)
Then-justice minister and head of the New Hope party Gideon Sa'ar, right, and Blue and White MK Gadi Eisenkot hold a press conference announcing the merger of their parties into the National Unity alliance, in Ramat Gan, August 14, 2022. (Tomer Neuberg/Flash90)

Speaking with Army Radio, National Unity MK Gadi Eisenkot slams Minister-without-Portfolio Gideon Sa’ar, whose New Hope party recently rejoined the coalition after quitting in March.

“Everyone acts according to their own scale of values, ​​and history will judge him — and I estimate not with great respect,” Eisenkot declares, calling Sa’ar’s behavior “regrettable.”

Eisenkot’s centrist party — which at the time was merged with Sa’ar’s right-wing party — joined the government days after the October 7, 2023, Hamas onslaught, but left in June, criticizing the government’s decision-making as politically motivated.

Hitting back at the criticism, Sa’ar states that he had resigned from the government during a period of insufficient military action in the war that coincided with Eisenkot’s and National Unity chief Benny Gantz’s tenure in the now-defunct war cabinet.

Sa’ar also accuses Gantz and Eisenkot of preventing, “on purpose and more than once,” the entry of ministers seeking more offensive action into the war cabinet.” He adds that he, Sa’ar, resigned months before Eisenkot and Gantz — and that the government’s “foot-dragging” ended after the end of their tenure, leading to the elimination of several senior terror leaders and a ground operation in Lebanon.

“History will judge,” he adds.

Most Popular