A statement from PM Benjamin Netanyahu’s office states that the Israeli cabinet has approved Gideon Sa’ar, the leader of the New Hope Party, to be appointed as a minister without portfolio.
The appointment of Gideon Sa’ar, the leader of the New Hope Party and a member of the Knesset, as a minister without portfolio has received overwhelming approval from the Israeli cabinet.
“Now, as a whole, the government has decided to designate Gideon Sa’ar as a minister without portfolio,” the office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated in a statement on Sunday.
The statement said that voting among cabinet ministers was done over the phone. Israeli media had said earlier in the day that Sa’ar will become part of Netanyahu’s administration.
Though Netanyahu’s office did not say it, the Israeli Broadcasting Authority implied that Sa’ar would join the security cabinet and possibly become a participant in war management.
Sa’ar has not released an official statement.
A minister in the government who does not have the position of head of a certain department is known as a minister without portfa olio.
War policy and the legislation pertaining to conscription
Sa’ar’s four-seat party will join the cabinet, giving Netanyahu a comfortable majority of 68 seats in the 120-seat parliament.
This could help the coalition overcome one of the most significant political obstacles it will face in the coming months: enacting a new law requiring military conscription. In June, the Israeli Supreme Court decided that the government must start enlisting ultra-Orthodox Jewish seminary students in the armed forces.
Netanyahu’s government, which is supported by two ultra-Orthodox parties who wish to keep their constituents in religious seminaries and away from a melting-pot army that would challenge their norms, is becoming more divided over the subject.
After October 7, Sa’ar became a part of Netanyahu’s emergency administration, but he resigned from it in March, claiming dissatisfaction with Netanyahu’s military policy.
He made the controversial statement that the blockaded enclave had to be smaller after the end of the conflict, shortly after the Israeli slaughter in Gaza began.
