It was an unusual scene, some would say imaginary. At one of the last cabinet meetings, the prime minister concluded the meeting. Then, who would have believed, Netanyahu praised an idea raised by Gideon Sa'ar. One of those present at the meeting said that "nothing should have been said, the looks between the people said it all..."
Sa'ar's idea cannot be elaborated, but it can be said that a situation in which Netanyahu, Sa'ar, Levin and Miri Regev sit in one room, and Netanyahu applauds Sa'ar, is a very unusual event on a political scale.
Gantz after the establishment of the emergency government: "A partnership of destiny - not a political partnership" // GPO
Sa'ar-Netanyahu relations have been one of the bitterest political rivalries in recent years. Sa'ar, a veteran of the Likud, ran against Netanyahu in the primaries and later came out against him on every possible front and even enacted what the prime minister considered a red sheet – the "Saar Law," which sought to determine that a criminal defendant could not form a government. Sa'ar, who has Argentine roots, those known for their fondness for barbecues, found himself very strong on the grill – condemnations, attacks, slander from the Likud, and Netanyahu accused Sa'ar of behaving "like in Iran."
October 7 shuffled all the cards and resulted in the two sitting in one cabinet today. Immediately after the Knesset vote on the state camp joining the government, the two were seen huddling on the outskirts of the Knesset plenum, and since then, Israel Hayom has learned, three more private meetings have been held in the past two weeks, each lasting about half an hour. Who would have believed.
Will they make a comeback? Saar and Netanyahu, at a meeting of the Likud faction (archive), photo: Gil Yochanan
The Sa'ar-Netanyahu relationship can teach us a lot about the process currently taking place in politics leading up to the day after the war.
Quite a few talk about the "new politics" that will be born to us the day after the war. It is more likely that we are returning to the "old politics."
The main question that will steer the day-after scenarios is, why not, Benjamin Netanyahu. It is doubtful whether Netanyahu will be able to withstand the heat of the hot stove that will require him to put down the keys and give way. Even if he stands firm in the face of a flood of protests across the country – a scenario in which the commander of the Gaza division, the head of Southern Command, the head of Military Intelligence, the chief of staff and the head of the Shin Bet shake the country by issuing letters of resignation one after the other – it will be very difficult for Netanyahu to stay in his place.
Some argue that it is too early to eulogize Netanyahu this time, too; If pictures of Sinwar, Deif and Issa are seen assassinated or waving a white flag and Hamas is erased, Netanyahu will continue in office even in the shadow of the work of a state commission of inquiry that could last for many months. Israeli politics is full of surprises and anything can happen.
Looking to the distant future, whether by resigning immediately after the war or staying for another election campaign, it is clear to everyone that this is Netanyahu's last term.
Returned to the extreme right, Avigdor Lieberman, photo: Oren Ben Hakon
Politics, as mentioned, will not go to a new place, but rather to an old place. After years of a civil agenda that includes thousands of affairs, legal debates over indictments, Mandelblit, Shai Nitzan, legal reform, as well as an agenda of partitions in Dizengoff and bags for children on Simchat Torah, the security-political discourse will once again lead the Israeli agenda.
The atrocities of the enemies, together with the fall of the concept of "it is good for them – it is good for us too," are sweeping the Israelis to the right. Those on the left move to the center, those in the center move to the right.
The showers of bombs and artillery on Gaza dispel the thick political fog. Lieberman is once again a right-wing Lieberman (even an extremist) and not "Lieberman is now part of the left-wing bloc" as Netanyahu stated. Gideon Sa'ar will return to being much more pro-settlement, and much less PR (just not Bibi).
It is likely that the next government will be a center-right Israeli Zionist that includes Benny Gantz, Yair Lapid, Likud (headed by another candidate), Shas and other players who plan to join the arena, such as Naftali Bennett, Ayelet Shaked, Yossi Cohen, as well as people who will emerge from the protests.
Will he return to the cabinet table? Bennett during a wartime interview with the BBC, photo: BBC Broadcasts
What is already clear is that a hybrid that we have seen in the past, such as a government table that includes Lieberman with Nitzan Horowitz and Ze'ev Elkin, shares a coalition with Walid Taha, it is highly doubtful that it will be found here again in the coming years.
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