Sa’ar rejoins government, bolstering Netanyahu; longtime rivals both say rifts mended
Sa’ar: It’s the patriotic thing to do; PM: Grudges are ‘behind us’; Gallant keeps defense portfolio, but future uncertain; New Hope has voting freedom on some controversial bills
New Hope party leader Gideon Sa’ar rejoined Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government on Sunday, just over a week after the prime minister’s ally-turned-rival said he would not accept an offer to replace Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.
Sa’ar and Netanyahu announced the development in a joint press conference, and shortly thereafter the cabinet voted to approve the move.
“I appreciate the fact that Gideon Sa’ar has answered my request and agreed to join the government. This move contributes to the unity among us, and to our unity in the face of our enemies,” the prime minister said.
“In discussions in the security cabinet [when he was previously in the government], I was very impressed by Gideon Sa’ar’s broad vision, and his ability to bring creative solutions to complex problems. More than once, we saw eye-to-eye on what steps needed to be taken,” Netanyahu continued.
For his part, Sa’ar said that his decision to reenter the government came during “difficult and challenging days,” explaining it was “important to strengthen Israel, its government, and its unity and cohesion,” and declaring that his move was “the patriotic and right thing to do now.”
“There’s no point continuing to sit in the opposition, where most members’ positions on the war issue are different, even far from my own. Right now, it is my duty to try to contribute at the table where decisions are made,” Sa’ar said.
“In recent days, the government, with Netanyahu at its head, has shown noteworthy determination. The IDF has acted perfectly. So too, in the rest of the war, we will need determination, alongside sound judgment,” Sa’ar said, praising a series of devastating blows Israel has dealt to Lebanon’s Hezbollah terror group.
The New Hope party leader has not replaced Defense Minister Gallant for the time being, although Hebrew media reported Sunday that he and Netanyahu were not ruling out the possibility going forward. The prime minister is widely believed to be determined to fire Gallant in the near future.
Instead, Sa’ar has entered the government as a minister without portfolio, and will be part of the security cabinet, the limited forum convened for major decisions regarding the management of the war.
He and his party will have freedom regarding how to vote on some controversial issues, such as the government’s proposed judicial overhaul, but will not have a veto, according to Hebrew media.
Along with Sa’ar come three other New Hope lawmakers, whose votes for the government may lessen the veto power of far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, who has repeatedly threatened to bring down the razor-thin coalition over ideological disputes. With New Hope, the coalition now represents 68 out of the 120 seats in the Knesset, which means Ben Gvir’s 6-strong Otzma Yehudit party can no longer bring down the government on its own.
Negotiations regarding Sa’ar’s entry into the government were reportedly mediated in recent days by Justice Minister Yariv Levin, while Netanyahu was in New York for the United Nations General Assembly, and the move was sealed upon the prime minister’s return to Israel.
Details of the agreement are still being worked out, Hebrew media reported, including Sa’ar’s commitments with respect to legislation on drafting ultra-Orthodox yeshiva students, a highly controversial issue that has threatened to bring down the coalition before, and was reportedly an impetus for Netanyahu almost firing Gallant, who opposed a draft exemption law without broad agreement.
Sunday marked the second time Sa’ar has joined the government since the Hamas terror group’s October 7 attack on southern Israel last year, which started the ongoing war in the Gaza Strip and the fighting against Iranian-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon, as well as other Iranian proxies in the region.
At the time, the right-wing New Hope had been merged with Benny Gantz’s centrist Blue and White party. The National Unity alliance, composed of the two parties, entered Netanyahu’s government as an emergency measure days after the Hamas attack, and Sa’ar became part of the government’s security cabinet.
He was not, however, added to the narrow war cabinet, to which Gantz was appointed and on which MK Gadi Eisenkot, former IDF chief of staff, was made an observer. Sa’ar broke off from National Unity in March and demanded to join the war cabinet; when he was not admitted to the forum, New Hope left the coalition.
Sa’ar began his political career in the Likud party, and became one of its most prominent members until disputes with party leader Netanyahu drove them apart, causing Sa’ar to quit politics in 2014 and later return with a vow to not politically collaborate with Netanyahu again.
At the press conference announcing Sa’ar’s reentry to the government, Netanyahu acknowledged that the two men have a history of fierce political opposition, saying: “It’s no secret that we have had disagreements in the past, but since October 7 we have put all the grudges of the past behind us.”
Sa’ar said he “was forced to leave [the government] in March, despite my support for achieving the goals of the war, at a stage when I felt I couldn’t influence things” while locked out of the war cabinet.
Sa’ar’s addition to the government came amid a new offensive against Hezbollah in Lebanon, and two days after Israel killed the group’s longtime leader Hassan Nasrallah and several other top commanders in a massive airstrike in a Beirut suburb.
It also came hours after fresh airstrikes on the Hodeida port and power plants in Yemen, meant to hurt the Iranian-backed Houthi terror group, after the Houthis launched several ballistic missiles at Israel.
“We are changing the strategic reality in the Middle East,” Netanyahu said early in his joint press conference with Sa’ar. “The change in the balance of power brings with it the possibility of creating new alliances in our region, because Israel is winning. Our enemies and our friends are back to seeing Israel as it is — a strong, determined and powerful country.”
The New Hope leader said Sunday that while he spoke in March of stagnation in the management of the war, recent strikes in Lebanon and Yemen represent the “distinctly active approach I have always supported.”
Of his relationship with the prime minister, Sa’ar said: “Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and I have had years of very good, close partnership, and there were also years of personal and political rifts. Believe me, beloved citizens of Israel, from the morning of October 7, that [discord] is of no significance to me.”
Sa’ar’s reentry to the government comes almost a year into the war against Hamas, with 101 hostages still held by Hamas in Gaza, including 97 people taken captive in the terror group’s onslaught last year, 33 of whom are confirmed dead by the IDF.
The Hostages and Missing Families Forum was fervently opposed to Sa’ar’s joining the government, picketing the New Hope leader’s house amid speculation he would replace Gallant, and noting his opposition to the hostage-ceasefire deal framework presented by the United States last spring.
Sa’ar’s move was panned Sunday night by opposition politicians who accused him of hypocrisy, given his history of opposing Netanyahu as well as those who would ally with him politically.
Opposition Leader MK Yair Lapid said on X: “The entry of Gideon Sa’ar is the kind of moment when politics makes you want to throw up.”
Yair Golan, of the left-wing Democrats party, wrote: “Gideon is the clearest proof that our nation is better than its leaders.”
Members of the coalition, however, embraced the announcement, praising Sa’ar’s entry as an act of national unity during wartime.
