Just like Bennett, Sa’ar is allowed to change his mind - opinion

The advanced negotiations between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and MK Gideon Sa’ar over the latter’s appointment as defense minister in Yoav Gallant’s place occupied the political system over the last week. 

Sa’ar has since announced that he was renouncing Netanyahu’s proposal at this stage, in light of the latest developments in the fight against Hezbollah. However, opinions regarding his appointment and Gallant’s replacement were divided in Israeli discourse.

There are voices calling for Gallant’s replacement due to his murky relationship with Netanyahu and the difference in their perceptions of the goals of this war and the issue of the hostage deal. They assume that Sa’ar will be able to challenge the security establishment and bring about a more offensive agenda against Hamas and Hezbollah. 

Others claim that it is a politically futile security move to oust a serving defense minister during a war. They say it only serves Netanyahu’s political survival and enhances Sa’ar’s political and public status. Currently, his party, New Hope-United Right, has not passed electoral threshold in opinion polls.

The relationship between Netanyahu and Sa’ar has had its ups and downs over the years. The peak came in December 2019, just before 2020 Knesset elections. Sa’ar challenged Netanyahu’s leadership of the Likud and ran against him in a party primary, gaining only 27% of the votes, compared to 73% for Netanyahu. A year later, their political rivalry rose to new heights when, before the 2021 elections, Sa’ar withdrew from the Likud and founded his new party with the aim of ending Netanyahu’s long-term rule. For a brief moment, Sa’ar indeed constituted a political alternative to Netanyahu, with his new party receiving 18 Knesset seats in opinion polls.

However, the result of the 2021 elections was disappointing, with New Hope-United Right gaining only six seats. Sa’ar then joined the Naftali Bennett-Yair Lapid government and was appointed justice minister,with Netanyahu reduced to leader of the opposition leader after 12 consecutive years as prime minister. In this government, Bennett – one of the leaders of the Right – had joined forces with left-wing MKs to form this coalition, in which he served as prime minister until Lapid took on the position in the final months. 

Many, especially among Netanyahu’s opponents, are confused regarding Sa’ar. After recent and unsuccessful negotiations with Yisrael Beytenu chairman Avigdor Liberman to establish a new right-wing party, he is suddenly back in the arms of Netanyahu – contrary to past statements and promises that under no circumstances would he join forces with the current prime minister.

The game of politics

In this context, it is important to remember that the game of politics is comprised of ideology and interests, and a successful politician must know how to combine both elements. Sa’ar’s zigzagging – in particular the move to oust Gallant – does not look good. Gallant is undoubtedly the politician most suited to hold the position of defense minister – certainly among the Likud, and possibly even in the entire Knesset.

Gallant’s rich military experience made him worthy of being appointed IDF chief of staff, if not for a land scandal in his hometown of Amikam, of which he has now been partially cleared. Sa’ar, on the other hand, has no security leadership experience apart from serving as a member of the security cabinet. The last defense minister appointment of someone with no security leadership experience (Amir Peretz) resulted in the Israeli public harshly criticizing the IDF’s unsuccessful Second Lebanon War in the summer of 2006.

Sa’ar, interested in promoting determination over exhaustion and attrition on all Israel’s fronts, has still not ruled out a future role as defense minister. He has even gone as far as to emphasize that the greatest military and strategic disasters in the history of the State of Israel have occurred when the position of defense minister was held by IDF veterans. 

However, politically, if Bennett, who said in the past that he would not partner with the Left in forming a government, could renege on that commitment, why should Gideon Sa’ar not be allowed to do the same?

The writer is a lecturer and research fellow at the University of South Wales, UK, and a research fellow at The Israel Centre for Grand Strategy- ICGS. His recent book is Israel: National Security and Securitization (Springer, 2023). His new book about the collapse of the Labor Party 1992-2024 is to be published soon by Resling.