Israeli multi-millionaire Naftali Bennett is inching closer to replace Benjamin Netanyahu, the current Prime Minister of Israel. Bennett gained prominence in Israeli politics after he announced strong religious rhetoric that attracted political attention towards him. On Sunday, Naftali Bennett announced that he would opt for an alliance with opposition leader Yair Lapid of Yesh Atid. The deadline to form a coalition is till Wednesday. Here're 10 interesting facts to know about the multi-millionaire businessman who can be the next prime minister of Israel.
- Naftali Bennet is a 49-year-old multi-millionaire who made his fortune from entrepreneurship. He is a former tech-entrepreneur who now has gained certain prominence in Israeli politics through his hard-hitting speeches.
- Bennett was born in America and now lives with his wife Galit and four children in the central city of Raanana. He is a former special commando force.
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- He entered politics after selling his tech start-up for $145 million in 2005, and the next year became chief of staff to Netanyahu, who was then in opposition.
- In 2010, he left Netanyahu’s office and became the head of the Yesha Council, an organisation that lobbied Jewish settlers in the West Bank. Two years later, he took charge of the far-right Jewish Home party which was facing annihilation at that time, taking everyone by surprise.
- Over time, he increased its parliamentary presence fourfold, while making headlines with a series of incendiary comments about the Palestinians. In 2018, he re-branded the Jewish Home party and named it the Yamina party.
- Similar to the Jewish Home party, the Yamina Party is a strong right-wing party that talks on the matter of religion, nationalism and the legitimacy of Israel. His party has called for the annexation of the occupied West Bank, an area which has been for long controlled by Hamas.
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- He speaks perfect American English and is very liberal when it comes to the economy, but on the other hand, takes a very conservative and strong stance against Israel’s arch-nemesis Iran. Although he shares ideology with the current PM Netanyahu, the relations between the two have worsened with time.
- In opposition and with the coronavirus pandemic raging in 2020, Bennett dampened his right-wing rhetoric to focus on the health crisis, moving to broaden his appeal by releasing plans to contain the virus and aid the economy.
- Bennett’s party Yamina did not have the resources to capture the favour of citizens around Israel which made him look up to other political parties in Israel. After the 11 day fight between Hamas and Israel, Bennett shook hands with Yair Lapid, an Israeli centrist party, and agreed to form a coalition to defeat Netanyahu.
- This set of a political agreement between Yamina and Lapid would see Bennett as the Prime Minister of Israel but in a rotating premiership. This means that Bennett would be allowed to hold the supreme office for the first term but would have to step down for the second.
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