Justice Minister Gideon Sa'ar of the National Unity Party criticized Prime Minister Yair Lapid over his position regarding the two-state solution and said he believes that Lapid will not be able to form a government after the upcoming elections.
In an interview with Arab Israeli media channels Panet and Hala TV, Sa'ar said that "the simple question is who will be able to form a government. There is one possibility that Netanyahu will have 61 and he will form a government of extremists with [Bezalel] Smotrich, [Itamar] Ben Gvir and others, and another possibility in which Netanyahu will not have 61, and then the question is what will happen in the political system? Who is more widely accepted in the political system? And here the consideration of the number of seats is important...but surely it is not the only consideration."
Sa'ar noted that "Lapid cannot recruit 61 Knesset members and therefore will not be able to form a government" and added, "Realistically there are only two real alternatives: Either Netanyahu has 61 and forms an extremist government or he doesn't, and then I would presume Benny Gantz has the best chance to form a broad unity government."
On the issue of the Temple Mount, Sa'ar expressed support for continuing to maintain the status quo, saying, "All the governments of Israel, including this government, and including the Likud governments, have all maintained the status quo on the Temple Mount. There are certainly more Jews on the Temple Mount, but in principle, the same principles established after the Six Day War have been in force all these years until today."
Asked whether he liked Lapid's comments at the UN General Assembly regarding the two-state solution, Sa'ar replied, "The truth is, no. I think he (Lapid) said something that he also did not work to promote during the last term, neither as Prime Minister nor as Foreign Minister, and for good reason. This thing today is not practical in any sense. Today we need to look at the relations between us and the Palestinians and see what can be realistically done. In my opinion, realistically, and this is also our approach, it is possible to take actions to strengthen the self-governance of the Palestinian Authority without harming Israel's security. And this thing is very important."
Sa'ar explained that his position is based on the autonomy plan of former Prime Minister Menachem Begin.
"My basis from which I proceed is the basis of the autonomy plan, which is a plan that the first to put on the table was the late Menachem Begin. We need to see in which places it is possible to allow more freedom of movement, more good life, more powers that do not harm security. But in my opinion, going to a Palestinian state today (is) both unrealistic and dangerous for the State of Israel, and I do not support it."
In response to a question regarding the differences in his positions compared to those of Netanyahu, Sa'ar said, "Listen, I think we are different, but there are certainly points where we are similar. Listen, in the end, my roots are in the Likud, but the Likud that we grew up on, of the late Menachem Begin who championed the Zionist concept and the Land of Israel, but also championed the idea of democracy, of the rule of law, equality between people and looking at every human being at eye level, this is part of what we learned from Menachem Begin. I think that if Menachem Begin were to come alive today and look at today's Likud, he himself would not find the Likud to be his home."
Sa'ar attacked the positions of the predominantly Arab Joint List Party which, he said, cause harm to Arab society.
"I really don't like the Joint List and its positions, and I think it doesn't serve the Arab public either, because instead of supporting integration between Jews and Arabs and integration of the Arab citizens of Israel within the state, they are in essence building their political power from continued friction and disintegration, and I think this is a wrong direction, both for the state and for the Arab citizens of Israel," he said.
He ruled out the possibility of the Joint List being part of a future coalition, saying, "The Joint List cannot and will not be in any coalition that I will be in because of its positions. According to my understanding, it is impossible to advance the interests of the State of Israel, the national interest, with the Joint List, and therefore it cannot support [a coalition] neither from the inside, nor from the outside, etc. Is it possible to cooperate on certain parliamentary issues? This is something that existed in every other Knesset, social issues and other issues... [but] it cannot be a coalition partner."