Deputy mayor of Jerusalem Fleur Hassan-Nahoum announced on Thursday her candidacy in the primaries for opposition head Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud Party.
"Today I am announcing my candidacy for the Likud primaries," Hassan-Nahoum said. "I do so with a strong sense of responsibility to my country and my people.
"As a Knesset member, I intend to continue the work I have been involved with in Jerusalem, bringing all I have learned with me."
"As a Knesset member, I intend to continue the work I have been involved with in Jerusalem"
Fleur Hassan-Nahoum, Jerusalem deputy mayor
UK-born Hassan-Nahoum, who was raised in Gibraltar, made aliyah in 2001.
"As an immigrant myself...I am particularly sensitive to being an outsider and will work hard to improve on the absorption of immigrants in this country and work to represent their voice and interests," Hassan-Nahoum said.
Hassan-Nahoum's road to the Knesset
After serving as executive-dirctor of Tikva, a nonprofit organization dedicated to caring for abused Jewish children who fled the former Soviet Union, Hassan-Nahoum became a city councilor in the Jerusalem Municipality after she joined the Yerushalmim local party.
She became head of the local opposition in 2017, during the tenure of MK Nir Barkat, a potential faction ally, as Jerusalem mayor.
Moshe Lion appointed Hassan-Nahoum as deputy mayor after he entered local office in 2018. Hassan-Nahoum was also made responsible for tourism and foreign affairs in the Israeli capital's municipality.
The new Likud candidate also co-founded the UAE-Israel Business, an organization that worked to connect businesses in Israel and the Emirates following the signing of the Abraham Accords in 2020.