'If it's not broken, why fix it?' – Gantz opposes admitting Sa'ar into war cabinet

War cabinet member Benny Gantz said on Wednesday that he opposes adding his newly-former political partner Gideon Sa'ar into the committee tasked with managing the war effort.

"If it's not broken, why fix it," Gantz said. In his first public comments since Tuesday night's bombshell announcement that Sa'ar's New Hope party was parting ways with his Blue and White faction, the former defense minister added that now was not the time for dealing with politics, and all attention should be reserved for handling the defense challenges that Israel is facing. 

Meanwhile, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir declared that if Sa'ar was given a spot in the war cabinet, he would also demand to be admitted. Both Sa'ar and Ben-Gvir are members of the Security Cabinet, but neither is a member of the much smaller war cabinet making the major decisions governing how Israel wages its war against Hamas and other terrorist groups since October 7.

Sa'ar announced the end of his political partnership with Gantz with no prior warning. On Wednesday, Sa'ar lamented if he had caused any disrespect among his former colleagues, but said the break was long overdue. The two had joined their parties into the National Unity list in 2022, ahead of the last round of elections, with Sa'ar — a former Likud minister — bringing his right-wing party into the center-left faction. National Unity joined the opposition when the current government was inaugurated at the end of December 2022. Gantz joined an emergency government led by Prime Minister Netanyahu after the war broke out, with himself and former IDF Chief Gadi Eizenkot joining the war cabinet.

However, the conduct of the war proved to be a major issue in Sa'ar's decision, as he noted that, while he respects the National Unity members sitting on the war cabinet, "their representation does not align with the views and priorities I advocate."

Their moderate stance on conducting the war clashed with Sa'ar's hawkish approach; Sa'ar promotes expanding operations, while Gantz has proven more cautious.

Sa'ar's decision to strike out on his own is being seen as strengthening the prime minister's position, tempting Netanyahu with the possibility of his vote being a counterweight to Gantz and Eizenkot. However, Sa'ar and the Likud party have stated publicly that they did not coordinate the political breakup, and members of the New Hope party, many of them former Likud lawmakers themselves, have said they will not allow the party to be absorbed into the Netanyahu camp.

Gantz's recent unsanctioned visit to the U.S. also exposed disagreements within the party, as Sa'ar maintained that such state visits must be conducted in coordination with the government.

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