Carmel Shama Hacohen
Carmel Shama HacohenYoni Kempinski

Ramat Gan Mayor Carmel Shama Hacohen, who heads the campaign of New Hope chairman Gideon Sa’ar, spoke to Radio 103FM on Monday and commented on Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s criticism of Sa’ar.

"It is impossible to say of Sa’ar in any situation that he is irrelevant. This is an inappropriate statement by the Prime Minister about someone who was a senior minister in his Cabinet and was elected in first place on the slate time and time again," said Shama Hacohen.

"When Netanyahu crashed, Sa’ar was the architect of the Likud’s rehabilitation. A little modesty and gratitude never harmed anyone," he added.

Commenting on New Hope’s recent decline in polls, Shama Hacohen said, "There is no doubt that Gideon Sa’ar was in a better position two months ago, but anyone who wants Netanyahu will vote for Netanyahu, one cannot convince a person who is satisfied with the current situation to vote otherwise. Anyone who wants change in the country, the person with the best chances to do so is Gideon Sa’ar. Yair Lapid is an excellent person who conducted himself in an exemplary fashion in his campaign and in his last term, but voting for Yair Lapid means voting for a fifth election."

Shama Hacohen acknowledged that "New Hope’s campaign was not successful, there is no debate about that. The responsibility is in the hands of the people, if they want a fifth election that will waste almost three billion shekels, let them vote for the parties that will lead to it."