TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) – For many years, Gideon Saar has been one of Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s most loyal and outspoken supporters, serving as Cabinet Secretary and Prime Minister.
Now the telegenic Saar, armed with extraordinary political experts and a heavy grudge against its former boss, can prove that this is Netanyahu’s biggest challenge.
After Saar broke away from the Likud party to form his own faction, he ran for office against Netanyahu in March, pretending to be the leader’s leading rival.
The challenge covers the astonishing deterioration of the Saar-Netanyahu relationship, and puts a cunning political thought against his former mentor in a deeply personal battle imbued with grievances from the past.
A secular resident of the cultural-liberal Tel Aviv with a wife, Saar (54), is a hardline nationalist who has long been seen as an heir to the leadership of the Likud party. After unsuccessfully challenging Netanyahu in a leadership race and when he was denied a government position in retaliation, Saar erupted on its own last month. He said his aim was to overthrow Netanyahu because he had turned the Likud into a tool for personal survival at a time when he was facing corruption charges.
Saar’s chances of becoming prime minister in the next election are far from certain and the prospects for his votes are that the New Hope party will come in second place after Likud. But his entry into the race reconfigures the playing field and could complicate Netanyahu’s task of forming a coalition government, and perhaps the Israeli leader at the helm after more than a decade.
“If there is anyone who can defeat Netanyahu, it is Gideon Saar,” said Sharren Haskel, a former Likud lawmaker who left the party to join Saar. “He is the only one who can stand up to Netanyahu because of his ideology, his experience and his abilities.”
Haskel, along with other Saar allies in Likud, devised a plan to block a bill that could prevent elections. In a late-night maneuver, they defied the party by skipping the vote or voting against the bill, catching Netanyahu off guard and inciting the government’s collapse. They even coordinated the move with members of opposing parties hiding in the Knesset car park until moments before the vote, testifying to Saar’s political experts, how long he has been willing to drop Netanyahu and his possible ability to cross the border. gang te kom.
Although Saar has brought hope to some that Netanyahu’s rule is on the rocks, a victory would probably not mean significant changes in policy, especially not towards the Palestinians. Saar is, like Netanyahu, a hardline nationalist who opposes Palestinian independence.
These right-wing credentials seem to be playing in his favor. Unlike other recent Netanyahu challengers who have tried to appeal to a broad, centric section of Israelis, Saar is pulling away the voices of disillusioned Netanyahu supporters as well as Likud lawmakers. At least four defectors joined him, including Netanyahu’s former confidante, Zeev Elkin.
“He attacks from the right,” said political scientist Reuven Hazan. “It’s a different game.”
Three previous elections since 2019 end in a stalemate between Netanyahu and his then challenger, former military chief Benny Gantz. The latest vote in March resulted in a power-sharing agreement that crumbled last month after months of dysfunction.
Saar entered politics in 1999 and served as cabinet secretary in the first Netanyahu government. He became a Likud legislator in 2002 and remained loyal to the party and Netanyahu, even when the party declined in the 2006 election.
Since Netanyahu’s return to the presidency in 2009, Saar has held the powerful posts of education and home affairs minister and has insisted on tough policies against illegal migrants. together with a more social-liberal doctrine that extends public education to toddlers. He repeatedly won first place in the Likud party’s primary elections, just below Netanyahu.
After marrying the popular Israeli news anchor Geula Even-Saar – a second marriage for both – he took a five-year break from public life. Saar returned to politics in 2019, but was immediately confined to the backbenchers after challenging Netanyahu in a Likud election.
Now, freed from Netanyahu’s grip on Likud, Saar could have a fighting chance.
In announcing his departure, Saar said he could no longer serve under Netanyahu.
“A change in the country’s leadership is needed,” Saar said. “Today, Israel needs unity and stability. Netanyahu cannot and cannot provide. ”
Since he bolted, the Likud has tried to paint Saar as a leftist in disguise, but his record indicates otherwise.
Saar has been a long-standing opponent of the two-state solution for Israel and the Palestinians, the long-standing international consensus to end the conflict.
“He’s worse than Bibi,” said political analyst Avraham Diskin, who said he had known Saar for years. He referred to Netanyahu by his nickname. “But he is a pragmatic person, not a fanatic. He is careful and proportionate, “he said, pointing out that he could exert himself under pressure from the international community.
Saar supports the construction of settlements in the West Bank and the annexation of parts of the West Bank, while the Palestinian inhabitants of the area grant some autonomy. This would fall far short of their demands for an independent state that includes the entire West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza. Israel conquered the three territories in 1967, although it withdrew from Gaza in 2005.
‘There is no two-state solution; there is at most a two-state slogan, “Saar told the Times of Israel in 2018.” The establishment of a Palestinian state a few kilometers from Ben-Gurion Airport and Israel’s main population centers would create a security and demographic threat to Israel. . ”
While some Israelis who do not support these views are still eager to support Saar as a replacement for Netanyahu, others say his rise only elevates another hard-line nationalist.
“The next prime minister of Israel will be a full-fledged total man of the right, uncompromising and clumsy,” columnist Gideon Levy wrote in the liberal Haaretz. ‘The choice is between two ultra-nationalists, Netanyahu or Saar: Bibi or Gidi. There will probably be no other viable candidate. It is a sad reality, but very sobering. ‘