Sa’ar’s pursuit of cabinet role drives wedge between him and opposition leaders
Confidence in right-wing MK ‘greatly eroded’ by his talks with Netanyahu and the fact he has still left the option to join the government ‘on the table,’ opposition sources say
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"
MK Gideon Sa’ar’s announcement on Saturday that he had almost accepted an offer by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to enter the government as defense minister has eroded trust in him and his right-wing New Hope party, multiple sources told The Times of Israel on Tuesday.
Those with knowledge of the matter indicated that while a complete breakdown in relations has not yet occurred, uncertainty regarding the hawkish lawmaker’s plans could potentially endanger future cooperation with the rest of the opposition.
“We’re not saying anything about it at the moment. It’s not clear what he’s doing or where he is going and he left the option to join the government on the table,” one source said, indicating that Sa’ar could not be trusted to be included in discussions on strategy because he had not categorically rejected the possibility of rejoining the government.
In a lengthy statement on Saturday evening, Sa’ar said he had been offered to replace Likud’s Yoav Gallant as defense minister, but had turned the offer down because he did “not want the minds of those who bear the burden of managing the [military] campaign at this time to be distracted for an indefinite period of time by [my] candidacy.”
Sa’ar had reportedly been in contact with Netanyahu since this summer, despite having previously stated that he would be willing to make “concessions” to create a right-wing bloc opposing the prime minister.
Now a harsh critic of the government’s handling of the war in Gaza, the former Likud lawmaker and minister had joined the coalition as part of the National Unity alliance with Benny Gantz following the October 7 Hamas invasion and slaughter in southern Israel. He later split with Gantz before announcing his party’s departure from the government, after his demand to be admitted to the now-defunct high-level war cabinet was denied.
Noting that Sa’ar was not at a Saturday evening meeting of opposition party leaders, another opposition figure said that he “needs to sit down with himself right now and figure out what he wants.”
A spokesman for Liberman said on Saturday night that the meeting had been called to “coordinate moves and [receive] updates.”
“You can understand a politician who is very stressed by the polls, it’s natural,” the source continued, linking Sa’ar’s behavior to recent polling showing New Hope failing to cross the election threshold even as the rest of the opposition was projected to win enough seats to form a new majority coalition.
During the current recess, there are no regular weekly meetings of the opposition, “so it is not clear what will happen until we return from the break [but] in any case, confidence in him from the opposition leaders will surely be greatly eroded,” the source added.
Speculation regarding Sa’ar joining the coalition began circulating in July, shortly after meeting with Opposition Leader Yair Lapid of Yesh Atid and Yisrael Beytenu chief Avigdor Liberman to discuss what a New Hope source at the time called “the beginning of cooperation to overthrow the existing government.”
Despite these efforts, even before Saturday’s announcement, relations between the right-wing party and some of the other, more centrist, opposition factions were far from smooth, another source with knowledge of the matter told The Times of Israel.
The “divorce” between New Hope and National Unity “didn’t end on good terms” and “things were never great between New Hope and the rest of them,” the source said. “There’s always tension and now there’s more [but] the other opposition parties didn’t say ‘we won’t work with them.'”
The National Unity, Yisrael Beytenu, New Hope and Yesh Atid parties declined to comment for this report. A spokesman for The Democrats stated that its leader, Yair Golan, had stopped meeting Sa’ar since his intention to join the government was made public.
While choosing not to address the ramifications of Sa’ar’s decision, National Unity MK Pnina Tamano-Shata said that he “did well to give up the security portfolio.”
“Netanyahu’s delusional move to remove the defense minister during a war was harmful to national security, and it is important that Gideon Sa’ar came to his senses,” she said.
According to a Channel 12 poll published last week, 72 percent of Israelis believe that were Sa’ar to enter the government it would have been for his own personal benefit, compared to 12% who believed he would be doing so for the benefit of the country.
