Naftali Bennett: The millionaire who might be Israel’s next PM

In April 2019, Naftali Bennett received an unpleasant surprise. As the votes were counted in Israel’s general election, it became clear that his New Right party had not passed the 3.25 per cent electoral threshold needed to stay in the Knesset, Israel’s parliament. Mr Bennett lost his seat, his new party failed and his political career seemed over.

Two years, three more elections and a global pandemic later, Mr Bennett is on the verge of ending Benjamin Netanyahu’s 12-year rule. Barring a spectacular reversal, he may become Israel’s Prime Minister. He has found himself in the right place at the right time, heading (though not leading) an eclectic coalition of parties from the left, right and centre. He will be forming a national unity government with Yair Lapid, leader of the centrist Yesh Atid party. Mr Netanyahu was once Mr Bennett’s mentor and patron; now he’s about to be replaced by him.

Born in Haifa to American immigrant parents, Mr Bennett, 49, grew up in an observant Jewish household. He wears a kippah, a Jewish skullcap, which stays on his bald head as if by magic. In its 73-year history, Israel has never had an observant Jew as PM.

Mr Bennett was a member of an elite IDF Special Forces unit. In his time in the Maglan Reconnaissance Unit 212, he served behind enemy lines in the 1996 escalation between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon known as “Operation Grapes of Wrath”, hunting Hezbollah teams firing rockets into Israel. After military service, Mr Bennett went into tech and became a multimillionaire when his venture was acquired by a security company.

In a sense, Mr Bennett represents the modern Israeli dream: launch a startup after your military service, build it up and get a big “exit” when the company is bought. The usual next step would be to become a serial entrepreneur or venture capitalist. Mr Bennett chose a different path. He became chief of staff to then Opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu.

The two were once close. Mr Bennett’s autobiography has a chapter praising Mr Netanyahu — but he departed suddenly in 2008. Persistent rumours claimed he had a dramatic falling-out with Mr Netanyahu’s influential wife, Sara. The precise details, however, were always kept private.

During his time with Mr Netanyahu, Bennett made his most enduring political alliance with the young rightwinger Ayelet Shaked, who served as Mr Netanyahu’s office director from 2006 to 2008. They made an unlikely pair: a moderately religious man and secular woman. But they shared a vision of a younger, fresher right-wing politics that could bridge the secular-religious divide that permeates Israeli society.

They also both saw themselves as future PMs. Together, they quit Mr Netanyahu’s Likud and took over Israel’s moribund National Religious party, rebranding it as “Jewish Home”.

One of Mr Bennett’s more eye-catching policies was the “Bennett Plan” for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It involved annexing the majority of the West Bank, including all Israeli settlements, leaving the Palestinian towns in permanent limbo. His plan was attacked by the Israeli left and was also controversial on the right as it wasn’t full annexation. Donald Trump’s 2020 peace plan was very similar to the Bennett Plan.

When the 2013 polling day came, he flopped. This was pattern for Mr Bennett: high expectations and a strong showing in opinion polls, followed by disappointing results.

In the years that followed, Mr Bennett and Mr Netanyahu clashed during various coalition governments. Eventually, when a new election was called in 2019, Mr Bennett and Ms Shaked quit Jewish Home to form a right-wing secular-religious party called New Right, positioned right of Likud.

Mr Bennett insisted lead this rainbow coalition of nationalists, leftwingers and Arabs. Mr Lapid agreed to allow Mr Bennett to be PM for two years. After that, Mr Lapid in theory will replace Mr Bennett. But Mr Lapid is wise enough to know two years is a lifetime in politics, specially Israeli politics. Still, who knows for sure if this government will ever really take charge? The pressure placed on Mr Bennett and his colleagues by Mr Netanyahu and his supporters is immense. There are protests at his home chanting “traitor”, even death threats. If it comes to power, the coalition will be Israel’s broadest so far. It will have just a one-seat majority in the Knesset.

Mr Bennett could be in the Prime

Minister’s chair within days. The question is for how long.