Former Interior Minister Gideon Saar
Former Interior Minister Gideon SaarFlash 90

Although he resigned politics, and the Likud – because of disputes with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, some say – Gideon Sa'ar fully supports his former boss for the office of Prime Minister, he wrote in a Facebook post Sunday.

“Six years ago, when the Likud returned to power, the dangerous cycle of surrendering land came to a halt,” Sa'ar wrote. “We cannot allow the Left to renew its surrender of the Land of Israel in Judea and Samaria. Such surrender will endanger the security of Israel and bring direct threats to the population of the cities in the center of the country.”

Sa'ar, who was Interior Minister, quit last September, ostensibly, he said, because of “personal reasons.” According to many in the political establishment, Sa'ar resigned because of personal tension between him and Netanyahu, with disagreements on several issues. Netanyahu is thought to have seen Sa'ar as a rival for the Likud leadership.

Removing any doubts of how he felt, Sa'ar said Sunday that Israel needed someone who knew security leading the country – and the only person of that stature currently in the race was Netanyahu. “With the developments in the north, we may soon be facing a three sided military front – in Gaza, Lebanon, and the Golan,” he said, referring to recent reports that Hezbollah was seeking to expand its war against Israel to the Golan.

“The only party that can handle these issues is the Likud,” he added.