10 June 2021 Jewish News
www.jewishnews.co.uk
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Naftali Bennett / Israel News
High-tech to high office? What you need to know about Israel’s prime minister in waiting by Gabe Friedman @GabeFriedman563
So, who will be the next leader of the Jewish state? The answer looks very much like being Naftali Bennett, a former ally of Benjamin Netanyahu who supports many of his right-wing policies and is a staunch advocate for Israel’s West Bank settlements. Like Netanyahu, he opposes Palestinian statehood has, at times, been to Netanyahu’s right. Bennett, 49, would break some boundaries. He would be Israel’s first Orthodox Jewish prime minister and the country’s first leader born of American parents. He would also be the first prime minister to have become rich in the tech sector. He is expected to become prime minister under an emerging, fragile coalition deal in which Israeli parties team up across the political spectrum with the sole aim of ousting Netanyahu, who has been prime minister for 12 years. Under his deal with centrist Yair
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Lapid, Bennett would serve as prime minister for two-plus years, then Lapid would rotate into the role. He would also become prime minister as the head of an historically small party. In Israel’s most recent election, Bennett’s party won only seven of the Israeli parliament’s 120 seats and one of his lawmakers appears to have defected. However, the parties, which span from left to right, Jewish to Arab, have no shared vision for the 73-year-old nation. If the coalition deal doesn’t cross the line, Israel’s divided politicians will return to the drawing board.
American-Israeli background Bennett was born in Haifa to American immigrants from San Francisco, and lived in the US and Canada as a child for a time before the family returned permanently to Israel. Like Netanyahu, he speaks fluent English with barely any accent. Bennett attended a Chabad preschool while living in Montreal. He
in the 120-seat Knesset, and Bennett became Israel’s economy minister in a government led by Netanyahu. Since then, he has served as minister for diaspora affairs, education and defence under Netanyahu alongside his long-time political partner, Ayelet Shaked. He later split from Jewish Home and now heads the right-wing Yamina, which holds seven Knesset seats. After an uneasy alliance with Netanyahu, Bennett announced he would ally with Lapid. Naftali Bennett in conversation with Benjamin Netanyahu
is Modern Orthodox and wears a kippah; if he becomes prime minister, he would be the first to do so regularly. He lives in Raanana, a Tel Aviv suburb. After serving in the Israel Defense Forces, Bennett earned a law degree and entered the tech industry, moving to New York City. He co-founded a successful fraud detection software company, Cyota, and sold it in 2005 for £102 million. Back in Israel, Bennett got involved in right-wing politics. He quickly rose
to become Netanyahu’s chief of staff (from 2006 to 2008), when Netanyahu was opposition leader. After leaving the role, he became director of the Yesha Council, the umbrella organisation representing Israeli settlements. In 2012, he won the primaries of Jewish Home, a right-wing, religious Zionist party. In Knesset elections the following year, Jewish Home quadrupled the size of its delegation, winning 12 seats
Palestinian statehood and West Bank annexation Bennett is an unabashedly hawkish religious Zionist who has long opposed Palestinian statehood, citing Israel’s security concerns.
Economics Bennett advocates for free-market reforms, particularly in Israel’s expensive housing market. He is against regulation, taxes and other restrictions on business.
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