[[{"content_id":"125134","domain_id":"0","lang_id":"en","portal_id":"2","owner_id":"29","user_id":"1","view_accesslevel_id":"0","edit_accesslevel_id":"0","delete_accesslevel_id":"0","editor_id":"0","content_title":"Saar resignation, a political firestorm","content_number":"0","content_date_event":"2014-09-19 14:53:45","content_summary":"Zionist daily says Saar resignation signals a dramatic shift in the Israeli political landscape","content_summary_fill":"0","content_body":"Time of Israeli wrote:\r\n\r\n\tIsraeli Interior Minister Gideon Sa’ar, the second-most powerful man in the Likud, abruptly left politics on Wednesday.\r\n\r\n\tThe setting for his announcement was carefully chosen: a New Year’s toast for his supporters that drew over 1,000 people to an event hall in Kfar Hamaccabiya.\r\n\r\n\tHis statement was blunt. “After I considered, thought, consulted a great deal and did some serious thinking, I decided to take a break from political life,” he told the crowd to sudden, stunned silence. “Today I want to enjoy a little more privacy, quiet and freedom. I feel this is the right thing for me, and for those I love.… On the eve of a new year, I intend to set out on a new path.”\r\n\r\n\tSa’ar is one of the most talented political organizers in Israel and he holds an outsize influence over the Likud rank and file.\r\n\r\n\tSa’ar’s Wednesday toast, which promised no comparable excitement or political one-upmanship, drew over 1,000 people, more than the Netanyahu and Danon events combined. A simple invitation from Sa’ar drew more of the party’s activists than the other two men’s political machines could muster with effort.\r\n\r\n\tSa’ar also made sure neither Netanyahu nor the hawkish troublemaker Danon could fail to notice that fact.\r\n\r\n\t“We could have been spared [the spectacle of] the two poorly attended events if both of you had just come here,” he told Danon point-blank Wednesday, in a comment publicized by a political reporter standing nearby (Hebrew link).\r\n\r\n\tAnd in his half-hour resignation speech, which failed to mention the prime minister once — indeed, Netanyahu learned about the resignation of one of his senior ministers at the same time as the rest of us — Sa’ar offered more than a few hints that his retirement was unlikely to be permanent.\r\n\r\n\tThe resignation has led to a firestorm of speculation in the Israeli press that took the predictable paths.\r\n\r\n\tSome are urging Israelis to believe Sa’ar’s explicit reason for the resignation. “Soon David [Sa'ar's infant son] will start to walk, and I want to be at his side to walk with him hand in hand,” he said.\r\n\r\n\tBut there is another factor in Sa’ar’s resignation, a pattern into which his decision fits neatly — and it signals a dramatic shift in the Israeli political landscape.\r\n\r\n\tTwo years ago, the popular Likud communications minister Moshe Kahlon made a similar announcement at a similar event, and, like Sa’ar, did so at the height of his influence.","content_html":"

\r\n\tTime of Israeli wrote:<\/strong><\/p>\r\n

\r\n\tIsraeli Interior Minister Gideon Sa’ar, the second-most powerful man in the Likud, abruptly left politics on Wednesday.<\/p>\r\n

\r\n\tThe setting for his announcement was carefully chosen: a New Year’s toast for his supporters that drew over 1,000 people to an event hall in Kfar Hamaccabiya.<\/p>\r\n

\r\n\tHis statement was blunt. “After I considered, thought, consulted a great deal and did some serious thinking, I decided to take a break from political life,” he told the crowd to sudden, stunned silence. “Today I want to enjoy a little more privacy, quiet and freedom. I feel this is the right thing for me, and for those I love.… On the eve of a new year, I intend to set out on a new path.”<\/p>\r\n

\r\n\tSa’ar is one of the most talented political organizers in Israel and he holds an outsize influence over the Likud rank and file.<\/p>\r\n

\r\n\tSa’ar’s Wednesday toast, which promised no comparable excitement or political one-upmanship, drew over 1,000 people, more than the Netanyahu and Danon events combined. A simple invitation from Sa’ar drew more of the party’s activists than the other two men’s political machines could muster with effort.<\/p>\r\n

\r\n\tSa’ar also made sure neither Netanyahu nor the hawkish troublemaker Danon could fail to notice that fact.<\/p>\r\n

\r\n\t“We could have been spared [the spectacle of] the two poorly attended events if both of you had just come here,” he told Danon point-blank Wednesday, in a comment publicized by a political reporter standing nearby (Hebrew link).<\/p>\r\n

\r\n\tAnd in his half-hour resignation speech, which failed to mention the prime minister once — indeed, Netanyahu learned about the resignation of one of his senior ministers at the same time as the rest of us — Sa’ar offered more than a few hints that his retirement was unlikely to be permanent.<\/p>\r\n

\r\n\tThe resignation has led to a firestorm of speculation in the Israeli press that took the predictable paths.<\/p>\r\n

\r\n\tSome are urging Israelis to believe Sa’ar’s explicit reason for the resignation. “Soon David [Sa'ar's infant son] will start to walk, and I want to be at his side to walk with him hand in hand,” he said.<\/p>\r\n

\r\n\tBut there is another factor in Sa’ar’s resignation, a pattern into which his decision fits neatly — and it signals a dramatic shift in the Israeli political landscape.<\/p>\r\n

\r\n\tTwo years ago, the popular Likud communications minister Moshe Kahlon made a similar announcement at a similar event, and, like Sa’ar, did so at the height of his influence.<\/p>","content_source":null,"content_url":null,"content_columns":"0","content_date_start":"2014-09-19 14:53:45","content_date_finish":"2014-09-19 14:53:45","content_date_register":"2014-09-19 14:53:45","content_date_last_edit":"0000-00-00 00:00:00","content_show_img":"1","content_show_details":"1","content_show_related_img":"1","content_show_slider":"1","content_show_title_slider":"1","content_comment":"0","content_score":"0","content_recorded":"0","content_confirmed":"1","content_status":"1","content_kind":"0","old_id":"123389","tag_id":null,"tag_word":null,"tag_service":null,"tag_total":null,"tag_soundex":null,"attach_token":"1673212574","attach_date_register":"2014-09-19 14:53:49","attach_id":"122849","attach_file_ext":"jpg","attach_file_header":"image\/jpeg","attach_img_type":"2","attach_img_width":"380","attach_img_height":"200","attach_file_media":"1","attach_show_watermark":"0","score_average":null,"score_count":null,"score_date_last":null,"visit_count":"137","visit_date_last":"2025-05-10 18:27:14","attach_title":"Saar resignation, a political firestorm","node_title":"Commentaries","ot_node_left_right":"[{\"node_id\":134, \"left\":25, \"right\":26}]"}]]