New Hope’s Sa’ar told Netanyahu he’ll resign from government in a few days unless given war cabinet position

New Hope chair Gideon Sa’ar, who withdrew his faction from war cabinet minister Benny Gantz’s National Unity Party last week, tells Channel 12 that if he isn’t granted entry into the war cabinet within the next few days he will resign from the government.

As part of the National Unity Party, Sa’ar was brought into the government from the opposition following the October 7 Hamas terror assault and the start of the war in Gaza in a step taken by Gantz to present a united front.

Speaking to Channel 12, Sa’ar says he has told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of his intention to resign and bring New Hope back into the opposition should he not be given a seat in the limited war cabinet.

“I said that I will stay in the government as long as I can influence things and the direction is right,” he says. “I want the chance to try and have an influence, outside of the cabinet, I will not be able to.”

Sa’ar, who left the Likud party in December 2021 after an unsuccessful bid to oust Netanyahu as party leader, clarifies that he is in favor of holding early elections after the war and that he has no plans to return to Likud, with or without Netanyahu.