Israeli opposition lawmaker Gideon Saar is rejoining Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, the two have said, a step that is likely to strengthen the premier politically, Reuters reports.

The hawkish Saar, who has been one of Netanyahu’s most vocal critics in the past few years, is due to serve as a minister without a portfolio and have a seat in the prime minister’s security cabinet, Israeli television station N12 said.

Expanding the government to include Saar’s strengthens Netanyahu by making him less reliant on other members of his ruling coalition, which has been struggling in the polls as it presses on with an offensive in Gaza and against Lebanon’s Hezbollah.

Saar and Netanyahu said they were putting their past rifts aside.“We will work together, shoulder to shoulder, and I intend to seek his (Saar’s) assistance in the forums that influence the conduct of the war,” Netanyahu said.

Opposed to Palestinian statehood on security grounds, Saar is seen as further to the right than Netanyahu ideologically, but his joining the government is not widely expected to have a big impact on its security policy.