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Netanyahu’s rival accelerates campaign for party leadership

Gideon Saar wants to replace Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu: He’s more hawkish than Netanyahu; he campaigns for a new status quo with the ultra-Orthodox; and he stresses the importance of engaging Israel’s Arab citizens in dialogue.
03 October 2019, ---, Jerusalem: Israeli Former Minister of the Interior Gideon Sa'ar attends the Likud party faction meeting, ahead of the swearing-in of the 22nd Israel's parliament (Knesset). Photo: Ilia Yefimovich/dpa (Photo by Ilia Yefimovich/picture alliance via Getty Images)
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At some point, the indictment facing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will make it necessary to replace the head of the Likud party and the right-wing bloc. Once that happens, Knesset member and former Minister Gideon Saar will be the leading contender. After all, he was the first to issue a public challenge to Netanyahu’s leadership. According to an agreement between Netanyahu and Chairman of the Likud Central Committee Haim Katz, if the Knesset is, in fact, dissolved on Dec. 11 at midnight, the Likud can be expected to hold a leadership primary sometime in mid-January.

Netanyahu is Israel’s longest serving prime minister. Saar is a former minister of interior and education. The two men have very different styles. Unlike Netanyahu, Saar is popular among the leaders of Blue and White, including that party’s right-wing flank. Knesset member Zvi Hauser, who was Cabinet secretary when Saar was minister, is very friendly with him. The Blue and White party’s leaders have said on more than one occasion that if Netanyahu resigns, it would take them very little time to form a new government. It could be done “in an hour,” according to party leader Benny Gantz.

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