Gideon Sa'ar among Bloomberg's top 8 people to watch in 2021
The New Hope Party leader was included in the list for his political advancements against former coalition partner and now-opponent, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
By JERUSALEM POST STAFFGIDEON SAAR in his Knesset office.(photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM/THE JERUSALEM POST)
New Hope head Gideon Sa'ar was chosen in popular news site Bloomberg's top 8 people to watch this coming year. Sa'ar established the New Hope Party after defecting from Netanyahu's Likud Party in December 2020. Other than a politician and former Knesset member, Sa'ar was a lawyer and former cabinet minister. When Netanyahu returned to power in 2009 as Israel’s prime minister, Sa’ar was serving in top ministerial positions – education and interior – and as a member of the inner security cabinet. The New Hope party's purpose is to rival Likud in the upcoming Israeli elections, saying it has become a "tool" for the prime minister's interests. Gideon Sa'ar has been making fast advancements against Netanyahu. Nevertheless, in recent polls, Netanyahu has taken a steady lead, only closely followed by Sa'ar. In a recent Panels Research poll, Netanyahu stood in first place ahead of the elections with 31 seats and Sa'ar's New Hope tied with Yair Lapid's Yesh Atid at 16 mandates.Sa'ar was sixth in the list – which did not specify whether the order was intentional – alongside US Senator to Alaska Lisa Murkowski, Peruvian presidential candidate George Forsyth, US District Court for the District of Columbia Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, Deputy Prime Minister of Russia Alexander Novak, Taiwanese Representative to the US Hsiao Bi-Khim, US trade representative nominee Katherine Tai and head of the US Environmental Protection Agency nominee Michael Regan.Gil Hoffman contributed to this report.
