TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) – Gideon Saar was one of the most loyal and vocal supporters of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for many years as cabinet secretary and government minister.
Now the telegenic Saar, armed with extraordinary political knowledge and a burning resentment against his former boss, could prove to be Netanyahu’s greatest challenge.
After breaking away from the Likud party to form his own faction, Saar wages elections against Netanyahu in March and has emerged as the long-standing leader’s greatest rival.
The challenge concludes the astonishing decline of the Saar-Netanyahu relationship, putting a cunning political spirit against his former mentor in a deeply personal battle steeped in past grievances.
Saar, 54, is a secular resident of culturally liberal Tel Aviv with a famous newscaster wife, Saar, 54, and is a hard-line nationalist long seen as an heir to the Likud party leadership. After a futile challenge against Netanyahu in a leadership race and when a government position was denied retaliation, Saar broke up alone last month. He said his goal was to overthrow Netanyahu for turning the Likud into a tool of personal survival at a time when he is on trial on corruption charges.
Saar’s chances of becoming prime minister in the next election are far from certain, and polls predict that his New Hope party will come second to Likud. But his entry into the race changes the playing field and could complicate Netanyahu’s task of forming a coalition government, perhaps sidelining the Israeli leader after more than a decade at the helm.
“If there is anyone who can beat Netanyahu, it is Gideon Saar,” said Sharren Haskel, a former Likud lawmaker who has left the party to join Saar. “He is the only one who can oppose Netanyahu because of his ideology, his experience and his capabilities.”
Haskel, along with other Saar allies in Likud, devised a plan to thwart a bill that could avert elections. In a nightly maneuver, they defied the party by skipping the vote or voting against the bill, which caught Netanyahu by surprise and collapsed the government. They even coordinated the move with members of counterparties hiding in the Knesset parking lot until just before the vote, which is testament to Saar’s political savvy, the effort he is willing to go to to bring down Netanyahu and his potential. ability to reach down the aisle.
While Saar has given some hope that Netanyahu’s rule has come to an end, a victory would likely not mean significant policy changes, especially with regard to the Palestinians. Saar, like Netanyahu, is a hard-line nationalist opposed to Palestinian independence.
These right-wing references seem to play in his favor. Unlike other recent Netanyahu challengers who have tried to appeal to a wider, centrist section of Israelis, Saar is pulling the voices of disillusioned Netanyahu supporters as well as Likud lawmakers. At least four defectors have joined him, including former Netanyahu confidant Zeev Elkin.
“He’s attacking from the right,” said Reuven Hazan, Hebrew University political scientist. “It’s a completely different game.”
Three previous elections since 2019 ended in deadlock between Netanyahu and his then-challenger, former military chief Benny Gantz. The most recent vote in March culminated in a power-sharing deal that collapsed last month after months of dysfunction.
Saar entered politics in 1999 and served as the cabinet secretary in Netanyahu’s first government. He became a Likud legislator in 2002 and remained loyal to the party and Netanyahu even as the party plummeted in the 2006 election.
Since Netanyahu’s return to the Prime Ministership in 2009, Saar has held the powerful positions of Minister of Education and the Interior and has pursued a harsh policy against illegal migrants. alongside a more socially liberal doctrine that extended public education to preschoolers. He repeatedly won first place in the Likud Party primaries, just below Netanyahu.
After marrying popular Israeli news anchor Geula Even-Saar – a second marriage for both of them – he took a five-year hiatus from public life. Saar returned to politics in 2019, but was promptly confined to the backseat after challenging Netanyahu in a Likud primaries.
With Saar freed from Netanyahu’s hold on Likud, he may have a chance to fight.
When announcing his departureSaar said he could no longer serve under Netanyahu.
“A change in the country’s leadership is needed,” said Saar. Today Israel needs unity and stability. Netanyahu also cannot and will not provide. “
Since he took off, the Likud has tried to paint Saar as a leftist in disguise, but his record indicates otherwise.
Saar has long been an opponent of the two-state solution for Israel and the Palestinians, the long-standing international consensus to end the conflict.
“He’s by far more right-wing than Bibi,” said political analyst Avraham Diskin, who said he has known Saar for years. He referred to Netanyahu by his nickname. ‘But he’s a pragmatic person, not a fanatic. He is cautious and level-headed, ”he said, pointing out that he may be holding himself in check under pressure from the international community.
Saar supports settlement building in the West Bank and annexation of parts of the West Bank, while granting some autonomy to the Palestinians living in the territory. That would fall far short of their demands for an independent state encompassing the entire West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza. Israel captured 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 creation of a Palestinian state a few miles from Ben-Gurion Airport and Israel’s main population centers would pose a security and demographic threat to Israel. . ”
While some Israelis who disagree with these views are still eager to support Saar as Netanyahu’s replacement, others say his rise is only elevating another hard-line nationalist.
“Israel’s next prime minister will be a full-blown right-wing man, uncompromising and ruthless,” wrote columnist Gideon Levy in liberal Haaretz newspaper. “The choice is between two ultra-nationalists, Netanyahu or Saar: Bibi or Gidi. There will likely be no other viable candidate. This is a bleak reality, but a very sobering one. “