Can big bang on Right finish Netanyahu? - analysis
Likud compared Sa'ar with those who left Likud to challenge Netanyahu and lost, but there are many former Likud members who are now focusing on defeating the prime minister.
By GIL HOFFMANPrime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends the opening ceremony for the Sha’ar Hagai Memorial on the road to Jerusalem on November 29.(photo credit: ALEX KOLOMOISKY/POOL/VIA REUTERS)
he Likud politicians who were sent to defend Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu following the announcement of MK Gideon Sa’ar that he is forming a new party came armed with a list.They compared Sa’ar to Tzipi Livni, Moshe Kahlon, Dan Meridor, Itzik Mordechai and Bennie Begin, who all left Likud and are now no longer in politics.But there are lists that are more appropriate to describe Tuesday’s political drama.First of all, there is the list of former Likud figures who are now focusing their efforts on defeating Netanyahu: Naftali Bennett, Avigdor Liberman, Moshe Ya’alon and now Sa’ar.Together, they present a very serious challenge to Netanyahu and his party. They will constantly remind voters of the prime minister’s faults – and their attacks will all come from the Right. Netanyahu, who has made “left-wing” a slur for three decades in politics, has never dealt with a situation before where his primary challenge comes from the Right.The other relevant list is Netanyahu’s newfound political liabilities that did not exist in the last three elections.Netanyahu lost his political bloc when he left Bennett out of his government. Then he lost his close alliance with the White House, when US President Donald Trump was defeated. Finally, he lost his successful campaign slogans against Israeli Arabs, when he built an alliance with Joint List MK Mansour Abbas.Add to that the dual health and economic crises that will not be resolved if vaccines are not readily available by Election Day, and Netanyahu was already very vulnerable before Sa’ar made his announcement.Adding Sa’ar and other Likud figures who will join him in upcoming days could be the straw that could break Netanyahu’s political back.Unlike Kahlon, who was the last senior Likud figure to leave, Sa’ar presented himself as a candidate for prime minister. He is not aiming to get a job from Netanyahu but to replace him.Unlike Livni and Meridor, Sa’ar’s ideology never wavered. He remains loyal to the Likud’s views and believes it is the party that has changed, not him.Sa’ar did not pursue political maneuvers to unseat Netanyahu in the current Knesset. That would go against his nature.Instead, he is embarking on an uphill battle to build a new party, develop institutions and present an alternative.Only if all those goals prove successful against all odds will Sa’ar be able to follow Netanyahu on the list that truly matters: The list of Israeli prime ministers.
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