Gideon Saar's sharp criticism of Israel's cease-fire with Hamas and Islamic Jihad was in fact a public announcement that he is running to chair the Likud and is not waiting for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to wrap up his term. “The cease-fire, in the circumstances it was reached, brought Israel no achievements,” Saar tweeted May 5. “The time spans between the violent attacks on Israel and its citizens are getting shorter, and the terrorist organizations in Gaza are growing stronger between them. The war was not prevented but postponed.”

Saar’s criticism was in effect aimed directly at Netanyahu, who has become the only decision-maker on foreign and security affairs in Israel. Even when Netanyahu calls the Security Cabinet, any decision made reflects his will. 

Netanyahu quickly responded to Saar through “sources in the Likud,” who accused Saar of having joined forces with the left: “Since 2015, when he attacked the Likud and the prime minister incessantly, Gideon Saar has had one goal: to take down the prime minister and chairman of the Likud, Benjamin Netanyahu. The excuses change, the goal doesn’t. Gideon Saar doesn’t give even a moment of credit to the prime minister and immediately joins the attacks from the left by [the Blue and White's] Benny Gantz and Tzivka Hauzer, who defected to the left and is at Saar’s command and continues to coordinate with him.”

Hauzer had served as Cabinet secretary in Netanyahu’s second government (2009-2013). In the April elections, he held the 14th slot on the Blue and White list and during the campaign leveled sharp criticism at Netanyahu and his public conduct. Saar rejected Netanyahu’s claim, tweeting, “Ridiculous on the level of the ‘plot of the century,’” referring to an earlier run-in with Netanyahu.