Gideon Sa'ar's demand to hold a primary election for leadership of the Likud party is legitimate and even appropriate. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, after all, has twice failed to form a government, while every prognostication indicates that as long as he remains Likud chairman it won't be possible to cobble together a majority coalition. This situation will change, in all likelihood, if someone else leads the ruling party.
Moreover, even if the political system does go to a third consecutive election, Netanyahu's odds of forming a government are lower than ever before. A political leader needs ambition, aspirations to rise higher in the ranks, and the ability to identify opportunities that could help him accomplish that. Sa'ar acted as expected of anyone with political ambitions, supposedly.
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Justice doesn't always win. Perhaps Sa'ar isn't grasping the magnitude of the hour. For years now, many in the right-wing camp have been decrying the justice system – from the State Prosecutor to the High Court of Justice, while a majority of Likudniks have remained apathetic and hesitant to echo the cries of the settlers and haredim. Now they are starting to feel the wrath of these bodies. Not only are they willing to join their right-wing allies, who have suffered from discrimination and inadequate representation in the justice and law enforcement agencies, they are now ready to lead the protests and spearhead the necessary measures to fix the long-standing distortion of justice.
Maybe Netanyahu's rivals are right in claiming the premier only wants to save himself from a potential conviction, and that therefore his motives are presently dishonest. However, this doesn't change the fact that in the eyes of his supporters, he is right.
Hence Netanyahu is receiving full backing from all of his coalition partners – from Aryeh Deri and Yakov Litzman to Rabbi Rafi Peretz and Bezalel Smotrich. They feel this is also their fight and are willing to sacrifice their seats just to capitalize on the historic opportunity to treat the root problem.
Gideon Sa'ar is offering his supporters the chance to stay in power. To this end, he needs party primaries. But the coalition partners on the Right are talking about higher principles and more important battles. The current situation, in which Deri and Smotrich are more loyal to Netanyahu than Sa'ar and his Likud colleagues, is nothing less than absurd. Whether this comes with a price, or not, we will only know if primaries are held in the near future to determine the party's Knesset ticket.
Netanyahu is counting on Tuesday night's rally at the Eretz Israel Museum in Tel Aviv to give him the tailwind of support he needs; if not from politicians then at least from the public. For the MKs and ministers, this isn't just a show of support for the prime minister, but a demonstration against the law enforcement system.
Participation in the demonstration could have far-reaching implications in terms of the aggressive message it sends to these bodies. Eschewing the rally hurts the prime minister and diminishes the sense of urgency and magnitude of the hour in which we find ourselves. Netanyahu, meanwhile, expects the masses of supporters who do attend and express their views to fully compensate for those who don't. We will only know Tuesday night whether the effort paid dividends, and whether Netanyahu received the boost he needs ahead of another looming election campaign.
