Riding on the storm

Interior Minister Gideon Sa’ar’s decision to resign from political life is no storm in a teacup; the story of the Likud party No. 2’s surprise resignation dominates the headlines in Thursday’s papers. Sa’ar’s announcement on Wednesday at a Likud party meeting that he’ll step down from office after the Jewish High Holidays prompts a whirlwind of speculation and inquiry by the press into what he’ll do next.

“The Sa’ar storm,” reads the headline on Israel Hayom, playing with the interior minister’s surname (Sa’ar is Hebrew for tempest). It reports that the one-time contender for the Likud leadership dropped a “bombshell” by declaring his intention to take a time-out from political life. It cites unnamed sources speculating that although Sa’ar said he doesn’t intend to leave the Likud party, he may intend to join with former Likud darling Moshe Kahlon and start a new party to compete against their former allies.

Yedioth Ahronoth reports that virtually nobody was in on Sa’ar’s plans to leave political life, and that the only ones who were informed in advance were his wife, journalist Geula Even, and two daughters from his first marriage. The paper notes that while Sa’ar didn’t mention Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu once in his half-hour speech, “everyone felt the critical tone, the frustration and the disappointment.”

According to Haaretz, one of the reasons for Sa’ar’s time-out from political life may have to do with his wife’s recent entanglement at Channel 1. Geula Even was suspended earlier this week after breaking a ban on interviewing Likud MKs, but was returned to her job after Sa’ar announced his resignation, the paper notes. It also points out that due to the deal made by Yisrael Beytenu and Likud before the last elections, Sa’ar’s resignation will make the ruling Likud party the second largest after Yesh Atid, and Sa’ar’s seat will be taken by Yisrael Beytenu member Leon Litinsky.

The pundits try to pick apart Sa’ar’s resignation, incredulous that an Israeli politician might actually be honest about leaving public service to spend time with his family. Mati Tuchfeld writes in Israel Hayom that Sa’ar criticized the government during Operation Protective Edge this summer, and that once he’s a private citizen he can make political gains at the expense of his former party. He concurs with the speculation that Sa’ar and Kahlon will join forces and compete with Likud in the next elections, set, at this point, for November 2017.

“By announcing he’ll remain in Likud, Sa’ar left all his options open,” Tuchfeld writes. “If he sees an opportunity arise in his direction, he’s likely to take it. It’s reasonable to assume that that will only happen after the era of Netanyahu.”

Yossi Verter writes in Haaretz that Netanyahu has made Sa’ar’s life a living hell in the past 18 months of the current government, and that is part of the reason for the latter’s decision to leave politics. “Sa’ar was ejected by Netanyahu from the security cabinet and became an enemy of the Netanyahus when he actively supported [Reuven] Rivlin for president,” he writes. The Hebrew edition of Haaretz mentions that “some claim that the hand of the PMO was in the latest chapter in the Israel Broadcasting Authority surrounding [Sa’ar’s] spouse, the presenter Geula Even,” but the English version excises that claim.

Nahum Barnea writes in Yedioth Ahronoth that Likud supporters should be concerned about this latest resignation from the party. “The abandonment by Kahlon and Sa’ar at the peak of their popularity, when the party is in power, teaches us about the deep rift [in Likud]. Not only the rats are jumping from the sinking ship, so too are the sober politicians, who are sick of fighting with the captain.”

Elsewhere in the news, Haaretz reports that Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman held a meeting with Republika Srpska leader, Serbian nationalist and close friend Milorad Dodik in Geneva this past weekend. It says Liberman’s office tried to keep a tight lid on the meeting, designating it as “sensitive.” Despite the fact that Republika Srpska is not an independent state — it’s a majority Serb autonomous region in Bosnia and Herzegovina — this meeting between the two leaders was the latest in a close relationship they’ve developed in the past four years, the paper reports.

In the background, the Israeli papers cast a glance at the Scottish independence referendum, with headlines such as “To be, or not to be British” and “Independence within a vote’s reach.” Nowhere, however, do the implications for an independent Palestinian state make an appearance.