The Knesset plenum convened on Monday to officially approve the entry of United Right chairman MK Gideon Sa'ar into the government.
The approval marked the end of a swift procedure to bring Sa'ar and his party on board, after the government approved the move in a telephone vote on Sunday night.
The government is set to convene for its weekly meeting later on Monday afternoon, and Sa'ar will likely participate.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Sa'ar announced the move in a joint statement on Sunday evening, marking a dramatic about-turn less than a week after a similar attempt failed less than a week earlier.
Sa'ar will serve as a minister-without-portfolio and a member of the National Security Cabinet. The parties did not sign a coalition agreement, and therefore its four MKs at the moment are not required to automatically support bills brought forward by the coalition, a source from the party confirmed.
The three MKs other than Sa'ar – Ze'ev Elkin, Sharren Haskel, and Mishel Buskila – will continue in the meanwhile in their current Knesset roles, the source added.
Netanyahu and Sa'ar
The Knesset plenum debate ahead of the vote to approve Sa'ar's entry into the government was heated, as opposition members and Sa'ar traded barbs of choosing political considerations over the good of the country.
Opposition leader MK Yair Lapid called the move a "disgrace" and accused Sa'ar of cloaking a political move as "patriotic." Lapid accused Sa'ar of agreeing to support a bill to continue the haredi exemption for IDF service in exchange for his entry into the government. Lapid then repeated an argument he made on Sunday that rather than lengthen the life of the government, it will shorten it since it will bring "chaos" into the government.
Sa'ar responded by sharply attacking the opposition. He acknowledged that he had promised in the past that he would not join a Netanyahu-led government but said that after the October 7 Hamas massacre and ensuing war, this no longer mattered. He denied the claim about the bill to exempt haredim from IDF service, saying that rather than attempt to talk to him, the opposition had immediately begun attacking him with "lies" and "blood libels." Sa'ar also attacked Lapid personally, including the opposition leader's positions earlier in the war, against an entry into Rafah and in support of the US-French ceasefire deal with Hezbollah.
"If your positions were accepted, [Hezbollah leader] Hassan Nasrallah would still be alive," Sa'ar said.
Sa'ar first joined the government alongside then party leader MK Benny Gantz on October 11. Sa'ar broke away from Gantz's party in March and left the government over claims that Israel's policies in Gaza were not aggressive and effective enough. Gantz eventually left the government in June.
In the joint statement on Sunday evening, Netanyahu said that when Sa'ar was in the government, he had been "deeply impressed" with his "broad view" and his ability to "propose creative solutions to complicated problems."
Netanyahu praised Sa'ar for "rising to the occasion and ignoring every other consideration."
Sa'ar acknowledged that while in the past he had worked closely with the prime minister, there had also been years of a "personal and political schism." However, after the October 7 massacre, this was "insignificant," Sa'ar said.
Sa'ar added that he had come to the conclusion that there was "no point in continuing to sit in the opposition," in which "most of its members' views regarding the war are different and even far from my positions."