Naftali Bennett offers new, fresh, image with lots of leadership

“In the next few years,” Knesset member Naftali Bennett, head of the opposition Yamina party told Al-Monitor, “We have to set aside all political and diplomatic issues, not talk about anything else and not deal with anything other than the coronavirus, the economy and the people of Israel’s ability to make a living.” 

This is ostensibly an obvious position for someone whose political star is rising on the back of the coronavirus pandemic. However, for those who like reading between the lines, Bennett’s comment has greater significance. “True, I fathered the calls to impose Israeli sovereignty over Judea and Samaria [West Bank] and I am one of the annexation prophets,” Bennett conceded. “But in the next two to three years there is no point in dealing with this or anything else. This is not a burning issue right now and I also don’t see any negotiations on the horizon. Saving the economy, the state’s finances and people’s incomes is the only thing of importance.”

No, Bennett is not undergoing a metamorphosis and is not veering to the political left. “I am not giving up one iota of my convictions,” he said. “But right now, the house is burning. The next two years will be some of the toughest in Israeli history and we do not stand a chance of getting through them unless we set aside our differences, for now.” Despite the euphoria sweeping global markets and world leaders this week in the wake of Pfizer’s successful coronavirus vaccine trials, Bennett was reserved. “It will take many months and perhaps more for an effective commercial vaccine to get here. There are many outstanding issues, but with 1 million unemployed, millions of children staring vacantly at computer screens, astronomical public debt that will take a whole generation to repay, these issues can be set aside temporarily to focus on salvage operations. And this is what we will do.”

While Bennett talks mainly about saving the Israeli economy, he is simultaneously busy trying to save the 22 Knesset seats he continues to garner in recent polls (some even give him more). Political pundits dub the tremendous support he enjoys and his meteoric rise “the biggest electoral parking lot ever in Israeli political history.” No one really believes that the man whose party won six Knesset seats in the March 2020 elections has quadrupled his support within a few months.