Will Likud upstart Gideon Saar succeed in toppling Bibi?
Photo: Flash 90
Is this the Big Bang of Israeli politics, or another anti-Bibi dud?
Gideon Saar, one of the Likud’s best-known faces and a loyalist who didn’t leave his party even when it cratered to 12 seats in 2006, shocked the political establishment last Tuesday with his decision to form a new center-right party called New Hope (“Tikvah Chadashah”). In one fell swoop, it threatened Netanyahu’s route to a right-wing majority, slashed Naftali Bennett’s chances of replacing Netanyahu, and made snap elections suddenly less appealing for Israel’s warring politicians.