"In this complex reality, our prime minister is safeguarding the interests of Israel and Jerusalem while avoiding international isolation."
(Jpost).Prime minister's No. 2 in the Likud, Education Minister Gideon Sa'ar, backed up Netanyahu in a pre-Rosh Hashana toast he hosted for Likud activists on Thursday night at the Tel Aviv Fairgrounds.
"In today's complex situation, our prime minister whom we chose, Binyamin Netanyahu, must maintain all our national interests - the settlements that are the apple of our eye, Jerusalem, and also our relations with the United States and avoiding international isolation, because we will not be able to do the things that are close to our hearts if we are isolated," Sa'ar said, in what was interpreted as a reference to preventing the nuclearization of Iran.
Sa'ar called on his colleagues not to be "enticed by newspaper headlines" and to instead support the prime minister, who he said sees eye to eye with the rest of the Likud but must take international considerations into account.
Sa'ar told his fellow Likudniks that Netanyahu was the only person capable of leading Israel at the moment, and urged them to lend him their full support.
"This is the way to protect Jerusalem," he said, adding: "[You] don't need to be tempted by every headline.
Another Netanyahu loyalist in the party, who is very close to the prime minister, said Netanyahu had no problem with his critics speaking in favor of settlements as long as they did not judge him without knowing what he intends to do.
"Bibi doesn't care any less about Judea and Samaria than anyone else in the Likud, but he is the only one who has the full picture on all the interests of the country, and he has to make decisions on existential matters even if he has to make decisions he doesn't want to make that he wouldn't make in a normal period," the Netanyahu loyalist said.
"It's easy to criticize when the responsibility is not on your shoulders. Prime ministers don't demonstrate. They have to make decisions."
