The talks on the appointment of Gideon Sa'ar as Minister of Defense and his joining the government are continuing, Kan 11 News reported on Thursday.
According to the report, even though Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has not directly spoken with Sa'ar since Monday, the contacts with him have resumed through Justice Minister Yariv Levin.
Sa'ar received from Levin a message that the Prime Minister wishes to initiate the move upon his return from the United Nations. According to agreements that were reached in the last two days, Sa'ar will not join the Likud right away, but will receive a verbal promise on the issue of guaranteed spots for members of his party on the Likud slate.
Earlier on Thursday, Sa'ar confronted opposition leader Yair Lapid, who claimed that Sa’ar did not have enough experience to serve as Defense Minister.
"I heard that the holder of the title of chairman of the opposition talks about defense-related experience. By the way, he always says about himself that he has sat in security cabinets for a decade. The truth? He sat in only two. Three years in total. I participated in five security cabinets for many years, three of them as a minister. In addition to that - many more years in the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, including the Intelligence and Secret Services Subcommittee," Sa'ar wrote in a post on social media site X.
He added, "Even when I took a break from political life, I was a senior fellow at the Institute for National Security Studies. I have been dealing with these issues my entire adult life. What I understand about national security issues - Lapid has no chance of knowing even if he was a diligent student. And he is not."
Sa'ar poked fun at Lapid and wrote, "As you know, Lapid gained most of his experience as a TV presenter (for well-known reasons - I respect this profession). Anyone who heard what Lapid had and has to say in the last year, during the most difficult war in Israel's history, has been amazed. Zero insights, zero depth, zero strategic understanding. He doesn't even understand what it means to have an understanding of defense. On the other hand, what did he understand about the economy when he was appointed to the position of Minister of Finance? Lapid offered to join the current government several times."
He also noted, "Both Bennett and Lapid suggested that I take the Defense Ministry during the negotiations to establish the government of change. I am convinced that Bennett is also honest enough to confirm this. Moreover: Lapid himself, in a meeting at my home, suggested that I be Prime Minister in a rotation with him. This was during Operation Guardian of the Walls, when Bennett temporarily withdrew from the coalition negotiations. I immediately rejected his proposal which meant the establishment of a government with the votes of the Joint List. Over the past few years, Lapid repeatedly told me in several personal conversations that I am one of the only three politicians in Israel who are qualified for the position of Prime Minister (the other two, in his opinion, are Liberman and himself)."
Lapid responded, "Gideon, all the talk about defense won't help. Your appointment is an attempt by the haredi parties to appoint a Defense Minister on their behalf, in the middle of a war, so that he can prepare the evasion law for them after the IDF has already suffered about 10,000 wounded and over 700 dead (including two today).”
“If you agree to this, this is a moral and ethical bankruptcy that has not been equaled in the entire history of Israeli politics (and there have been many), and that's before I said a word about the promises you made to the voters and the people of Israel. Instead of fighting, walk it back, announce that you will not sit in this government of destruction, and we will join forces in an effort to topple them for the sake of the people of Israel and the soldiers of the IDF," Lapid added.