The un-defense minister proves he’s the un-Bibi

Gideon Sa’ar, once seeing himself as Israel’s savior, finally acknowledges that it’s not all about him

It is safe to say that Gideon Sa’ar has long seen himself as someone worthy of leading Israel. It is now reasonable to say that his political career is over. And he’s to blame.

Sa’ar had a lot going for him. A law degree from a prestigious Israeli university. Service as a young man under Israel’s attorney-general. Cabinet secretary at age 33. Knesset member at 36. A steady climb through the ranks of the Likud to the Number 2 position, right behind party leader Benjamin Netanyahu. Cabinet positions at the Education and Interior ministries. Why complain?

Then, in 2014, under murky circumstances, he announced a surprise time out. Veteran political observers scratched their heads: Had there been a run-in with Bibi? Perhaps with Sara? The rumor mills spun, working overtime: Had there been accusations of sexual harassment? An affair?

Nothing was ever substantiated, and three years later, clearing up nothing, Sa’ar announced a comeback. But something in his luster was gone and he never regained his party standing.

Of course, challenging Netanyahu for stewardship of the Likud did not help.

By late 2019, the prime minister had failed to assemble a coalition after two snap elections, and before a third could be held, he was indicted, following years of investigations, on charges of fraud, bribery and breach of trust in three separate criminal cases.

Seeing cracks in his party leader’s veneer as a political powerhouse (not to mention magician), Sa’ar successfully petitioned the Likud’s central committee for a leadership vote. Apparently, these cracks were lost on a sufficient number of Likudniks, and Netanyahu defeated the challenger. Bigly. By roughly three to one.

ON THE SURFACE, Sa’ar took defeat as would the Likud’s ideal of a man. Stoically. Like Tony Soprano’s Gary Cooper. But less than a year later, after yet another close election left the country with a frail unity government (which eventually collapsed over the budget), Sa’ar left to form a party of his own.

It was clear that his goal was to take on Netanyahu from the outside. The Likud, he complained, had become a “cult” focused entirely on Bibi and a “tool for [his] personal interests.” Those interests, he hinted, included Netanyahu’s keen desire to avoid jail time.

Sa’ar called his party New Hope, and after the next election, in March 2021, with just four seats in Knesset, he became justice minister by joining an amalgamation of parties whose sole aim was to topple Netanyahu. The parties came from across the political spectrum, and many of their leaders, like Sa’ar, had once been pals with Bibi before coming to realize that his promises were worth even less than that proverbial pitcher of warm spit.

All you had to do was add the letter e to understand that it was a coalition of spite.

But this was the barest of coalitions, filling just 61 of the Knesset’s 120 seats. And because spite, like spit, can be hard to hold together, defections by several conflicted right-wingers brought this government down, too, and with it yet another election.

Netanyahu regained power in late December 2022. Sa’ar had not been among the defectors, so he took New Hope into the opposition as part of the National Unity list he had formed for the election together with Benny Gantz’s National Resilience party, eliciting the admiration of former adversaries.

Sa’ar gained even more respect when he loudly came out against the brand-new government’s January 2023 proposal for immediate and far-reaching judicial reforms.

According to opinion polls, the reforms were seen by most of the nation – including many Likud voters – as a naked attempt to neuter Israel’s court system and help keep Netanyahu out of jail. It was a judicial putsch, many said, and it immediately brought hundreds of thousands into the streets.

The protesters included Sa’ar, who told one rally that despite his preference for judicial change, the current proposal would take things too far and too fast, posing a danger to democracy.

THEN WAR BROKE OUT on October 7 and, on an emergency basis, the National Unity list joined Netanyahu’s coalition. Gantz, a former military chief of staff, was given a vote in the war cabinet. Gadi Eisenkot, another former chief of staff and a leading legislator in National Unity, was granted observer status. Sa’ar, whose military experience and knowledge were negligible, was left out. And he began making noise.

By March 2024, Sa’ar declared that New Hope was no longer part of the National Unity list although it would remain in the emergency coalition. Four days later, he gave Netanyahu (and Gantz) an ultimatum: Make me part of the war cabinet or New Hope leaves. Nine days after that, with no invitation forthcoming, Sa’ar, in a huff, pulled himself and his party out of the coalition. War or no war.

Which is when his real problems began.

Gone from the public eye was the rational, liberally conservative politician, replaced by just another petulant pol who throws tantrums when things don’t go his way. Sa’ar’s stock plummeted so far that opinion polls began showing him and his party being shut out of the Knesset. Those polling results continued for months, making New Hope’s predicament sound entirely hopeless.

But then Netanyahu’s camp began making it known that Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, too, was on his way out. Gallant had been contradicting the prime minister on too many issues, the least of which was the importance of negotiating a return of the hostages Hamas took on October 7.

Gallant had already been fired prior to the war when he publicly stated that the government’s judicial reforms were creating such deep social schisms that Israel’s enemies were rubbing their hands. News of his firing led to spontaneous and violent street unrest by some of the same people protesting the reforms proposed by Netanyahu’s – and Gallant’s – party. But this stayed Netanyahu’s hand. For the time being. Because Netanyahu never forgets.

Now, with Gallant again on the ropes, Sa’ar put out feelers, making it known that he was ready to prop up Netanyahu by replacing the defense minister.

If he thought this might be New Hope’s saving grace, he was wrong. The public saw him not only as a petulant has-been, but as your typical politician who’d sell himself for a buck. With so many generals around, Sa’ar was not the least bit qualified to be defense minister, even in the best of times. Yet here he was, offering himself up to be the nation’s savior. And Netanyahu’s.

Making matters worse was Sa’ar’s silence on the matter, as if he felt the uproar would pass. But then Netanyahu, as he often does, began back-pedaling – and making this known through planned leaks. He burned his former political adversary to the point where Sa’ar, clearly embarrassed, suddenly allowed that he would be available for any other post. Just not defense.

ALTHOUGH ITS ORIGINS are disputed, there is a quote attributed to the American politician Bill Clay: “This is quite a game, politics. There are no permanent enemies and no permanent friends. Only permanent interests.”

And as they say in politics (and in many other spheres), poof!

From the moment he began making noises that he intended to replace Netanyahu, Sa’ar acted accordingly. But he was always listening to himself. Now, he did the most un-Bibi thing imaginable: He listened to the public.

It took a while. Several years, in fact. But you have to give him that much credit.

Gideon, may your landing be soft – and as far from politics as possible.