Those who spoke with Interior Minister Gideon Sa'ar on Wednesday could sense that a storm was brewing. But almost no one expected the party's mundane Rosh Hashana event to produce breaking news. It was just a routine gathering of party activists. Prior to his big announcement, only one question dominated: When will Sa'ar launch a primary bid to oust Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as Likud chairman? No one expected him to announce his resignation. Sa'ar began deliberating this move immediate after the votes were cast in the 2013 Knesset elections. He felt that he was being sidelined, having been left out of the Diplomatic-Security Cabinet and denied access to Netanyahu's inner circle. In fact, he has wielded no influence on the premier. Sa'ar may have tried to reach a modus vivendi with Netanyahu, as the two are barely on speaking terms. He has also tried to establish a rapport with Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon. But neither responded to his feelers. The fact that his wife, anchorwoman Geula Even, was suspended from Channel 1 cannot be the only reason for his departure, but it might have been the last straw. Sa'ar's back had already reached its breaking point. He will most likely focus on his family now. As a lawyer, he can easily transition to the business world. Sa'ar is a political heavyweight. He can get things done. He proved his political dexterity after he defied Netanyahu and got Reuven Rivlin elected as president. Now Sa'ar can focus on his personal life. At 47, he can afford to take a time-out from politics. If he catches the political bug later on, he can always make a comeback. In fact, there is no way of telling just how long he plans to stay on the bench. Yesterday he told the party activists that he was "staying in Likud." Moshe Kahlon said these exact words when he announced that he was stepping down from his post as communications minister and MK almost two years ago. Both consider themselves the representatives of the "real Likud." If Sa'ar and Kahlon join forces, the lights at Likud party headquarters at Metzudat Ze'ev will probably stay on for a long time as the party picks up the pieces and tries to get its act together. That said, Netanyahu is probably breathing a sigh of relief. Ya'alon, who has continued to be a responsible steward of Israel's defense despite the attacks from Economy and Trade Minister Naftali Bennett, will now gain strength. Communications Minister Gilad Erdan will probably be told that he was no longer a shoo-in for the U.N. ambassadorship in New York, if only because Netanyahu would like to stem the exodus from the Likud. Sa'ar's departure means that the Likud will only be the second biggest faction in the Knesset. This, in an of itself, has no bearing on Israel's political landscape. But Erdan could be next, to be followed by National Infrastructure, Energy and Water Minister Silvan Shalom, whose pale face says it all. Is the Likud going to experience a Labor-like decline as it gradually loses its dominance? Laborites can still recall how the younger generation -- the successors to the party's giants -- one day just walked out en masse. They preferred to be private citizens than stay on as public officials. Some had a stopover at the Kadima party, others just ended their political career in one fell swoop. This organizational void left the entire party crippled; it had lost its backbone. When Haim Nahman Bialik wrote about his fellow classmates at the Jewish study hall, he said, "The wind took them all," but in this case it was Labor's central committee members who were swept aside. They realized that they could not break the glass ceiling and tap their potential; someone was standing in their way. Labor has yet to turn things around. Likud must do some soul-searching and see what went wrong, lest it shares Labor's fate. There aren't that many Gideon Sa'ars in its ranks.
