Who is Naftali Bennett, Israel’s new right-wing prime minister?
Naftali Bennett, who has been sworn in as Israel’s new prime minister, was once an ally of Benjamin Netanyahu, but in now part of a fragile coalition that ended the former prime minister's 12-year-rule.
Bennett made millions in the hi-tech sector and entered politics as a religious Orthodox Jew with a right-wing ultranationalist agenda, making his party popular with religious Jews and West Bank settlers.
A strong champion of the settlement movement in the occupied West Bank and east Jerusalem, Bennet has often spoken of his opposition to the establishment of a Palestinian state, and has previously made headlines with his incendiary comments about the Palestinians.
His ultranationalist Yamina party won just seven seats in the 120-member Knesset in March elections — the fourth such vote in two years.
But by refusing to commit to Netanyahu or his opponents, Bennett positioned himself as kingmaker. Even after one member of his religious nationalist party abandoned him to protest over the new coalition deal, he ended up with the crown.
Here is a look at Israel’s next leader:
An ultranationalist with a moderate coalition:
Bennett has long positioned himself to the right of Netanyahu.
But he will be severely constrained by his unwieldy coalition, which has only a narrow majority in parliament and includes parties from the right, left and centre.
He is opposed to Palestinian independence and strongly supports Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank and east Jerusalem, which the Palestinians and much of the international community see as a major obstacle to peace.
Bennett fiercely criticised Netanyahu after the prime minister agreed to slow settlement construction under pressure from ex-president Barack Obama, who tried and failed to revive the peace process early in his first term.
He briefly served as head of the West Bank settler’s council, Yesha, before entering the Knesset in 2013. Bennett later served as cabinet minister of diaspora affairs, education and defence in various Netanyahu-led governments.
“He’s a right-wing leader, a security hard-liner, but at the same time very pragmatic,” said Yohanan Plesner, head of the Israel Democracy Institute, who has known Bennett for decades and served with him in the military.
He expects Bennett to engage with other factions to find a “common denominator” as he seeks support and legitimacy as a national leader.
Rivalry with Netanyahu:
The 49-year-old shares Netanyahu’s hawkish approach to the Middle East conflict, but 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 a mysterious falling out that Israeli media linked to Netanyahu’s wife, Sara, who wields great influence over her husband’s inner circle.
Bennett campaigned as a right-wing stalwart ahead of the March elections and signed a pledge on national TV saying he would never allow Yair Lapid, a centrist and Netanyahu’s main rival, to become prime minister.
But when it became clear Netanyahu was unable to form a ruling coalition, that is exactly what Bennett did, agreeing to serve as prime minister for two years before handing power to Lapid, the architect of the new coalition.
Netanyahu’s supporters have branded Bennett a traitor, saying he defrauded voters. But Bennett defended his decision as a pragmatic move aimed at unifying the country and avoiding a fifth round of elections.
A generational shift:
Bennett, a father of four and a modern Orthodox Jew, will be Israel’s first prime minister who regularly wears a kippa, the skullcap worn by observant Jews. He lives in the upscale Tel Aviv suburb of Raanana, rather than the settlements he champions.
Bennett began life with his American-born parents in Haifa, then bounced with his family between North America and Israel, military service, law school and the private sector. Throughout, he has curated a persona that is at once modern, religious and nationalist.
After serving in the elite Sayeret Matkal commando unit, Bennett went to law school at Hebrew University. In 1999, he co-founded Cyota, an anti-fraud software company that was sold in 2005 to US-based RSA Security for 145 million US dollars.
Bennett has said the bitter experience of Israel’s 2006 war against the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah drove him to politics. The month-long war ended inconclusively, and Israel’s military and political leadership at the time was widely criticised as bungling the campaign.
Bennett represents a third generation of Israeli leaders, after the founders of the state and Netanyahu’s generation, which came of age during the country’s tense early years marked by repeated wars with Arab states.
“He’s Israel 3.0,” Anshel Pfeffer, a columnist for Israel’s left-leaning Haaretz newspaper, wrote in a recent profile of Bennett.
“A Jewish nationalist but not really 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".