Justice Minister Gideon Sa’ar launched what he billed as his New Hope Party’s founding convention on Sunday night, as Channel 12 was broadcasting a poll indicating that the party would not cross the electoral threshold if elections were held now.
While a Channel 12 commentator was explaining that the conclusion of the poll was that Sa’ar should be third behind Benny Gantz and Naftali Bennett on a list in the next election, Sa’ar told the crowd that New Hope’s future is bright.
“They won’t succeed in breaking us,” Sa’ar told the crowd in Airport City. “We are here, and we aren’t going anywhere. We are just getting started, and those who don’t understand will.”
New Hope was founded on the eve of Hanukkah last year. There were plenty of Hanukkah metaphors at the event, from Sa’ar being introduced as the party’s “shamash” to repeated comparisons to the Maccabees.
Sa’ar told the crowd that New Hope had succeeded in changing history by ending the cycle of elections. He promised to continue making history.
“This event will be remembered as a turning point in the political history of the State of Israel,” Sa’ar told the crowd.
Sa’ar made a point of never mentioning opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu by name. He referred to him as “the pied piper of Balfour Street” who persuaded the blind masses to follow him.
When Sa’ar asked the crowd if Netanyahu succeeded in continuing the political chaos of elections, the activists politely responded no. When he asked if their party succeeded in stopping it, they answered affirmatively, but remained in their seats and did not resemble in any way their counterparts at a meeting of the Likud central committee.
The same poll predicted 34 seats for Likud, 19 for Yesh Atid and 6 for Bennett’s Yamina. But no Knesset elections are expected any time soon.
There are elections upcoming, however, for the Histadrut Labor Federation and for local authorities across the country. Sa’ar said institutions would be founded for the party, which will prepare for those races.
Latkes and plain sufganiyot donuts were served at the event, on Hanukkah’s final night. The sufganiyot were ignored by the crowd, as items that had already played their role and were no longer needed.
Time will tell if those sufganiyot will end up being the event’s true metaphor.