Sa'ar likely to quit government after not being invited to war cabinet

The leader of the New Hope party Gideon Sa'ar has rejected an offer from the Likud party to join the war cabinet during the current period of military operations, as he had demanded.

Likud offered him a role as a "periodically invited" member to war cabinet meetings, similar to the arrangement for other ministers who are not war cabinet members.

Sources within the coalition note that this was the only acceptable offer as Sa'ar's inclusion in the cabinet would lead to similar demands from Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich.

Sa'ar does not object to Smotrich and Ben-Gvir joining the cabinet, but this would immediately lead to Benny Gantz's quitting and the dissolution of the emergency government.

Both Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Sa'ar's close aides believe there is little chance of finding a solution for the latter's demand to join the war cabinet, and he is on his way out of the government.