Yisrael Beytenu chairman MK Avigdor Liberman offered United Right chairman MK Gideon Sa’ar in a meeting in early July a concrete proposal to merge the two opposition parties ahead of the next election, Channel 12’s Dafna Liel reported on Sunday.
According to the report, Liberman offered Sa’ar two spots out of every 10 on the merged party’s list but insisted that the Sa’ar party cease to exist as an independent unit and that his MKs merge completely into the new party.
Sa’ar reportedly agreed to the condition that the party succeed in bringing on enough players to challenge the Likud for hegemony of Israel’s right-wing camps and that these players, such as former prime minister Naftali Bennett, also agree to a complete merger.
According to the report, Liberman also agreed to maintain the new constellation for a second election and agreed to consider holding an open primary election for the party list.
Sa’ar reportedly told Liberman that he would respond “within days,” but such a response was not given.
Sa’ar confirmed to Liel that he had indeed met Liberman and even added that the two had met again since then. However, Sa’ar denied the report about the details of the negotiations such as placements of MKs in the list. Rather, the two discussed “issues of principle,” including security and “political strategy,” including “the need for a broad and stable unity government” and “the chances to create a large unification of all of the liberal right-wing camp.”
“Sa’ar has much respect for Liberman, with whom he has a years-long friendship. However, the two do not agree on everything,” Liel quoted Sa’ar as saying.
The report came after growing calls from within the Likud for Sa’ar to join the government, possibly as defense minister instead of current Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. Gallant and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have publicly feuded over issues connected to the war. Sa’ar joined the government in October as part of MK Benny Gantz’s national Unity party, but broke away from Gantz in March and immediately left the government amidst criticism of what he viewed was insufficient aggression against Hamas and Hezbollah, and his inability to influence the decision-making process.
Sa’ar did not reject the option of joining current government
In an interview on Channel 12’s Meet the Press on Saturday, Sa’ar did not reject the option of joining the current government, but said that he had yet to be approached with an offer from Netanyahu.
Sa’ar stressed that he would not reject any options out of hand and that he would decide according to what he believed to be the country’s best interests.Rumors about a unification of non-Likud right-wing politicians swirled for months after the October 7 massacre, and Liberman even published a picture of himself last month meeting with Bennett.
However, another potential member, former Mossad chief Yossi Cohen, decided not to join politics in the meantime, and the possibility of such a unification is unclear.
