Just Before the Election: Severe Blow to Gideon Sa'ar

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is considering canceling the planned merger between Likud and the New Hope party led by Minister Gideon Sa'ar, i24NEWS political correspondent Nadav Elimelech reported for the first time. According to the report, Netanyahu's deliberations come as part of a series of reviews, polls and strategic situation assessments being carried out around the prime minister ahead of the upcoming elections, in an effort to maximize the strength of the right-wing bloc.

The original plan: reserved spots for Sa'ar and Elkin

Under the current agreements and plans between the sides, the two parties were supposed to run on a single joint list made up of two separate factions. Under this framework, Gideon Sa'ar's people were expected to receive two reserved spots in realistic positions on the Likud Knesset list. The arrangement in question included placing party chairman Gideon Sa'ar in the top ten of the unified list, while Minister Ze'ev Elkin was supposed to be placed in the second ten. This move was intended to allow the prime minister to ask the Likud Central Committee to approve additional reserved spots for other figures on the list, regardless of the places allocated to New Hope members.

Sa'ar: "I do not know what will happen"

Alongside the reported doubts on the Likud side, it appears that even within New Hope there is also ambiguity about the shared future. Party chairman Gideon Sa'ar recently addressed the merger issue during an official meeting of his party's leadership, and conveyed a fairly cautious line to his colleagues. In remarks he made to the party leadership, Sa'ar said that he does not know what will happen going forward, and made it clear to those in the room that for now, they are not moving toward a full merger with the ruling party. New Hope chose to deny the official reports about an emerging split or a change in plans, and said in a brief response, "There is no basis for these claims."