New Delhi: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ability to convert political opponents into allies was seen Sunday, when Gideon Sa’ar, the former challenger to the incumbent leader of Israel joined the cabinet as a minister without portfolio.
“It is important to strengthen Israel, its government and its unity and its cohesion… Therefore, I acceded to Prime Minister Netanyahu’s request to join the government and contribute to its work in decision-making forums with my experience and abilities. This is the patriotic and right thing to do now,” said Sa’ar in a joint statement with Netanyahu.
Sa’ar, who was brought into politics by Netanyahu nearly two decades ago, was seen as a rising star in his Likud Party.
However, in 2019, Sa’ar had a falling out with Netanyahu after challenging him to the leadership of the party, eventually losing to the prime minister.
He left the Likud to form his own conservative party, New Hope, which won 6 seats in the 2021 Israeli elections. Sa’ar joined the coalition led by former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, as the minister of justice for Israel.
With the return of New Hope to government, Netanyahu’s majority in the Israeli parliament has increased by four seats to 68 out of 120, strengthening the incumbent’s position and directly reducing the almost automatic veto the far-right parties held on policy.
Netanyahu has increasingly been looking to replace his defence minister Yoav Gallant, and Sa’ar was reported to have been in negotiations for the post before talks broke down in the past few weeks as Tel Aviv expanded its war across the region with the recent killing of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut and strikes against Houthi infrastructure in Yemen.
Sa’ar, who had first joined the unity government in the aftermath of Hamas’ attacks on 7 October, 2023, later quit supporting it in March 2024, after being denied a position in the war cabinet, according to reports.
The former justice minister’s split in March from the unity coalition also saw him move away from the National Unity coalition led by opposition leader Benny Gantz, who was at the time one of the three voting members of the war cabinet.
The war cabinet had three voting members at the time—Gallant, Netanyahu and Gantz—while it had three observers.
The return of Sa’ar comes after defections from the unity government reduced Netanyahu’s governing coalition from 76 seats to 64 seats.
In June 2024, Gantz—the former Chief of General Staff of the Israel Defence Forces (IDF)—left the unity government and returned to the opposition, as Netanyahu struggled to keep the coalition together.
Furthermore, far-right leaders in Netanyahu’s cabinet—Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich—threatened to bring down the government if any ceasefire deal was agreed with Hamas or Hezbollah.
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Netanyahu’s resurgence
The longest serving prime minister of Israel has been able to remain in power due to his ability in creating the right coalitions as necessary, especially as he faces the daunting task of passing a conscription law in the next few months.
Earlier this year, the Israeli Supreme Court ruled that the government must begin drafting ultra-orthodox Jewish seminary students into the military, a change in decades of government policy, which gave them an exception.
Netanyahu, at the time, relied on Ben-Gvir and Smotrich, who belong to ultra-religious parties.
The Israeli government also faced weeks of anti-government protests over its inability to strike a deal for the return of hostages that remain in Gaza, almost a year into the war. Around 101 hostages remain, though reports say 30 of them are dead.
While it seemed that the walls were closing in on Netanyahu’s government in June, he has been able to solidify his position in recent weeks, especially with the recent attacks on Hezbollah, and the killing of its chief Hassan Nasrallah.
Recent surveys indicate that Netanyahu’s Likud Party would likely win the largest number of seats in the Knesset, if polls were held today. While his coalition is unlikely to hold its majority, Netanyahu is preferred by voters over Gantz or opposition leader Yair Lapid.
(Edited by Tikli Basu)
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