Gideon Sa’ar, a recent lawyer, officially enlisted his new party on Thursday, after he split from the ruling Likud party ahead of seemingly new elections.
A statement from Sa’ar’s office said he called it “New Hope – Unity for Israel.”
The statement also published a list of the party’s goals, including supporting West Bank settlements and reforming the legal system, which both inflicting the right of Israel.
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“Supporting settlement and agriculture in Galilee and Negev, in Judea and Samaria, and in the east – from the Golan Heights, adjacent to Jordan [River] and Arabia down to Eilat, ”the statement said, using biblical names for the West Bank.
Sa’ar is opposed to a two-state solution with the Palestinians, and ran for the right of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in his unsuccessful bid for Likud’s presidency last year.
Gideon Sa’ar, south, will visit the West Bank area known as E1 near Ma’ale Adumim, on 10 December 2019. (Hadas Parush / Flash90)
The party will also be committed to the “fulfillment of the natural and historical rights of the Jewish people in the Land of Israel”; improving schools and reducing education gaps; supporting a free market company with a “fair guarantee of opportunity for all”; and upholds “the values of Israel as the national state of the Jewish people, which protects the human rights and practices of the rights of individuals.”
Some of the language in the platform was almost identical to the enterprise planks of the small group Derech Eretz, whose two MKs Zvi Hauser and Yoaz Hendel announced last week that they would be making a connection with Sa’ar.
The pair were followed this week by MK Yifat Shasha-Biton, who became the first Likud lawyer to debut New Hope. Hebrew media reports indicated that she would be No. 2 on Sa’ar slate.
An opinion poll broadcast Tuesday night marked Sa’ar gaining a popular boost after it was decided last week that Likud left and resigned from the Knesset, after unveil a mission to challenge Netanyahu for the lead.
A Channel 12 study showed New Hope scored just six Knesset sets less than Likud, while right-wing rival Naftali Bennett and Defense Minister Benny Gantz both had Blue and White. call ground.
MK Yifat Shasha-Biton will visit the coronavirus ward at Ziv Medical Center in the northern city of Safed on December 3, 2020. (David Cohen / Flash90)
The New Hope party would gain 21 seats in the 120-member parliament, according to the election, which was held before Shasha-Biton announced her plan to join the party but asked respondents about a situation in which she was on a Sa’ar ticket.
The census predicted 27 seats for Likud; 14 for Yesair Atid-Telem at Yair Lapid; 13 for Yamina, 11 for the Arab superstar; eight for the English and United Torah Jewish parties – both Haredi; and six apiece for Blue and White, Yisrael Beytenu and Meretz.
If proven correct, the poll would mean that the path to any party forming a new government would be a bit difficult, as the right-wing and religious parties would not do Likud, Yamina, Shas and UTJ. but 56 chairs and a center-south block of New Hope, Yamina, Yisrael Beytenu, Blue and White and Yesh Atid-Telem come together for 60. Sixty-one seats are needed to form a coalition.
Netanyahu could form a government if Sa’ar’s party joins him, but the prime minister’s top rival says there are no such plans. While others have vowed not to sit with Netanyahu in the past to reverse the course, the adventure between the two runs deep.
Shasha-Biton’s decision to join Sa’ar came when the Knesset appeared on course for disbandment by the middle of next week, amid the failure of the state budget. If elections are called, the fourth in two years, they are likely to be held in March.
