Netanyahu turns to Sa’ar as Smotrich doubles down

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu openly called on New Hope leader Gideon Sa’ar to join the other right-wing and religious parties to form a stable right-wing government.

Netanyahu’s hopes of convincing Religious Zionist Party leader Bezalel Smotrich and the rest of his ultra-nationalist party to form a minority government backed externally on the Islamist Ra’am Party appear to be waning, and his comments on Friday during an event in Ramat Gan indicate a renewed focus on getting Sa’ar, a former Likud MK and minister, to return to the pro-Netanyahu bloc.

“The State of Israel needs a strong nationalist government, a stable right-wing government, that will last for years,” Netanyahu said in the Ramat Gan National Park. “I call on Naftali Bennett, Bezalel Smotrich and Gideon Sa’ar to put all considerations aside, and let’s establish the nationalist, right-wing government that the State of Israel is so in need of.