Some 30 minutes prior to the final May 29 Knesset vote to dissolve itself, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s spokesperson sent around a photo showing members of Likud members waiting for him to enter the party’s meeting room. “The Likud faction is convening in full,” said the caption. The photo of the Likud’s 33 Knesset members and government ministers (not including Netanyahu) lining up as one before voting themselves out of office, less than two months after being elected, is a faithful portrayal of the Netanyahu era. It also reflects the Likud movement’s organizational ethics — the party does not depose its leaders even when they appear to act contrary to the collective interest.

Netanyahu convened his colleagues only to fully ensure that they were marching in lockstep, that no one was planning to spring any surprises on him during the vote. After all, he had already endured several exhausting and tense days when he realized that Yisrael Beitenu party Chair Avigdor Liberman had probably made a strategic decision to prevent him from forming his fifth government. Without Liberman, Netanyahu could not assemble a majority coalition; thus President Reuven Rivlin could have proceeded by tasking another Knesset member with forming the new government. At that moment, Netanyahu, the arch-politician, lost control over the developments and could not afford to back an alternative government that he himself would not lead. Given the circumstances and despite the deadlines looming of his possible indictments, opting for new elections was the littlest of all evils as far as he was concerned.

Everyone showed up in the meeting room, including Knesset member Gideon Saar, the only Likud lawmaker to challenge Netanyahu’s conduct in recent weeks, whom Netanyahu repeatedly humiliated and persecuted. Saar might have felt justified in trying to push Netanyahu aside or to seek revenge. In recent times, all eyes have been on Saar. Netanyahu and his people thoroughly examined every step he took, every incidental meeting. However, despite the intense bitterness he felt toward the prime minister for seeking his political demise, Saar lined up with his colleagues and did Netanyahu’s bidding. Saar did so because he, of all people, knows that any attempt to hit back at Netanyahu now could result in political disaster, condemn him to ostracism by the Likud and destroy any prospects he may have of leading the party and the political right in the post-Netanyahu era, which may be just around the corner.

The right wing and Likud would not have forgiven Saar had he tried behind the scenes to tailor an alternative government, headed by the Likud and in partnership with the Blue and White party, while Netanyahu continued his efforts to establish a (right-wing) national government. Such attempts by Saar would have also created a rift between him and the ultra-Orthodox parties, with which he has nurtured close ties for years. Therefore, Saar made the right political decision for himself.