Gideon Saar will soon mark his 20th anniversary in politics, but remains something of a political enigma.
By the time you read these lines, barring a shock upset, Gideon Saar will have failed in his bid to unseat Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu as leader of their party in the Likud primary election.
Why did Saar embark on this seemingly quixotic campaign? Netanyahu has led the party for 15 years and is immensely popular among the Likud rank and file. The prime minister’s popularity has only increased as Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit prepares to formally present his indictment of Netanyahu to the courts.
Likud insiders explain that Saar simply had nothing to lose — Netanyahu wasn’t going to reward him with party privileges in any event — and this vote was an opportunity for Saar to build his own independent camp in the Likud and position himself for the post-Netanyahu future.
Gideon Saar, 53, will soon mark his 20th anniversary in politics, but remains something of a political enigma. He is very much a product of his native Tel Aviv, but he has recently started keeping Shabbos and come closer to Torah. He’s married to secular media figure Geula Even, but every few months he visits the home of Rav Chaim Kanievsky, where he’s greeted warmly.
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