In Israeli terms, it was considered something of a political earthquake. On Sept. 17, the ruling party lost its most prominent politician, the only man who dared challenge Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the person considered by many in Israel to be the one great hope of the post-Bibi (Netanyahu) era. Interior Minister Gideon Saar was a former education minister and Cabinet secretary in both the first Netanyahu and the first Sharon governments. Now he surprised everyone by announcing that he was leaving political life.

“I have decided to take a time-out from political life,” he said. He never once mentioned Netanyahu’s name in his goodbye speech, which he delivered at the traditional New Year’s toast for his supporters. Yet, this name not mentioned could be heard loud and clear in the whispers making rounds among his supporters. Saar was resigning because of Netanyahu, and only because of Netanyahu. And he wasn’t the first to do so.

Over the years, Netanyahu has managed to chase many of the best people away from politics, the Likud Party or both. Former Minister David Levy left because of him. Former Minister Dan Meridor left during his first term, also because of him. There was former Minister Benny Begin, the popular Defense Minister Yitzhak Mordechai, former Minister Roni Milo and more recently the very popular Minister Moshe Kahlon. They all reached the same conclusion: they could no longer sit with Netanyahu. It was taking a toll on their health. So they just threw up their hands in frustration and left. Each and every one of them knows, for example, exactly what US President Barack Obama is going through, having to work with Netanyahu. None of them believe a single word that their prime minister says. They have no faith in him whatsoever. They all reached the same conclusion that they would rather die politically than live that way. Some of them resigned completely from politics, and some only left the Likud. Some (like Saar) resigned from the government but remained in the Likud Party. Regardless, they are all gone.

Israel’s ruling party has been left without any stars, except for Netanyahu himself. Now Communication Minister Gilad Erdan, the most popular Cabinet member after Saar, is also considering his next move. In conversations behind closed doors, he sounds just like Saar. Erdan has a promise from Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman (he was Liberman’s personal aide, when he served as director-general of the prime minister’s office during Netanyahu’s first term) that he would be appointed Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations in a few weeks. Erdan also reached the decision that he has had enough of serving as a minister under Netanyahu, at least at this stage. Right now, however, it is not at all certain that this promise will be fulfilled. At this point, Liberman has no interest in doing Erdan any favors, since Saar’s resignation means that a new Knesset member from Liberman’s faction will replace him, costing Netanyahu one Knesset member. If Erdan also leaves the Knesset now, the next person on the joint Likud-Yisrael Beitenu list would come from the Likud Party, so it’s no longer that important to Liberman to have Erdan leave.