On Sunday evening Indian time, Israel’s Knesset (Assembly) voted in Naftali Bennett as its new Prime Minister, pushing out a decade-old power grip of Benjamin Netanyahu.
Netanyahu failed to obtain majority support after the country’s general election in March this year. He is Israel’s longest-serving Prime Minister and is on trial for fraud.
The new Prime Minister is considered to be a close former aide of Netanyahu. If this fragile government survives two years, then centrist Yair Lapid, 57, will replace Bennett as PM.
With a desire to pull Netanyahu away from power, an extraordinary eight-party coalition which includes parties of the left, right, secular and religious well is led by Bennett and Lapid.
Who is Naftali Bennett?
Bennett is a 49-year old politician, who was a tech entrepreneur with American parents. He made millions before switching to right-wing politics and a religious-nationalist political position.
He has been labelled as “ultra-nationalist” by observers and newspapers alike for his views. Bennett, leader of the Yamina party, told The Times of Israel this February: “I’m more rightwing than Bibi (Netanyahu), but I don’t use hate or polarisation as a tool to promote myself politically.”
Observers of his political career have noted that his recent call for the annexation of the occupied West Bank, has been his broad stance since he entered the political scene of Israel in 2013.
Bennett worked for Netanyahu as a senior aide between 2006 and 2008. He left Netanyahu’s Likud party after his relationship with the former PM soured.
After entering politics, he aligned himself with the right-wing national-religious Jewish Home Party and in 2013 entered parliament as its representative.
Bennett’s political ideology.
A strong advocate of the Jewish nation, Bennett has asserted on Jewish historical and religious claims to the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights, territory near the Israel-Syria border that Israel has occupied since the 1967 war. He has been an advocate of the rights of Jewish settlers in the West Bank and has never supported Israeli claims on Gaza.
Having said that Bennett has taken a tough stance towards Palestinian militants and has upheld the death penalty for them.
The Times of Israel said Bennett, “is not in the business of boycotting political rivals, but he is a man of ‘the national camp’ — a firm and proud right-winger who will oppose Palestinian statehood forever, under any and every circumstance; who wants to extend Israeli sovereignty to some 60 per cent of the West Bank; who thinks Israel has already relinquished too much of its Biblical land”.
Bennett’s becoming the Prime Minister means it’s a setback for the Palestinians who hope for negotiations for peace and an independent state.
Rivalry with former PM Benjamin Netanyahu.
Though the 49-year-old newly elected Prime Minister shares similar aggressive policy like that of Netanyahu's towards the Middle East conflict, the two have had tense relations over the years. Bennett served as Netanyahu's chief of staff for two years, but they parted ways after secretive fallout that Israeli media linked to Netanyahu's wife.
Bennett campaigned as a loyal right-wing leader ahead of the March elections and took a public pledge saying that he would never allow Yair Lapid, a centrist and Netanyahu's main rival, to race for the prime minister.
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However, when Netanyahu was unable to form a ruling coalition government, Bennett came in to serve Israel as the prime minister for two years before giving the power to Lapid, the planner of the new coalition.
Bennett has been named as a traitor by Netanyahu's followers, alleging that he has defrauded voters. He, however, backed his decision calling it a logical step at uniting the nation and avoiding the fifth round of elections in Israel.
A generational shift for Israel
Bennett is a modern conservative Jew who wears a kippa, the skullcap worn by observant Jews and lives in the upscale Tel Aviv suburb of Raanana, rather than the settlements provided to him. He was born to American parents in Haifa and his life hopped in between North America and Israel, military service, law school and the private sector with his family.
He created a persona that at once is modern, religious and nationalist.
Bennett studied at the Law school at Hebrew University and had also served in the elite Sayeret Matkal commando unit.
He co-founded Cyota, an anti-fraud software firm in 1999, that was sold to US-based RSA Security for $145 million in 2005.
What drew Bennett to politics was the painful 2006 month long war of Israel with Lebanese militant group Hezbollah that ended inconclusively.
Israel's military and political leadership at the time were publicly criticised as fr carrying the campaign inefficiently.
Bennett represents the third generation of Israeli leaders.
“He's Israel 3.0,” Anshel Pfeffer, a columnist who writes for Israel's left-leaning Haaretz newspaper, wrote about Bennett in a recent column.
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“A Jewish nationalist but not dogmatic. A bit religious, but certainly not devout. A military man who prefers the comforts of civilian urban life and a high-tech entrepreneur who isn't looking to make any more millions. A supporter of the Greater Land of Israel but not a settler. And he may well not be a lifelong politician either,” Pfeffer adds in his column.