If all goes according to plan, Yamina leader Naftali Bennett will be sworn in as Israel’s 13th prime minister on June 13. The following day he will join the other members of his eight-party coalition government for a traditional photo with the president. Bennett will be setting several major precedents. For the first time in Israeli history, a politician whose party only won 5% of the vote (translated into six seats in the 120-member Knesset) will lead the Jewish state. This is also the first time that a yarmulke-wearing Jew is being handed the reins to the sovereign Jewish state.
A tremendous burden of proof lies on Bennett’s shoulders. Most leaders of the coalition he heads, probably the most complex in Israeli history, do not hold him in abundant esteem. Against all odds and through an incredible constellation of circumstances, timing and history, the 49-year-old Bennett is about to replace Benjamin Netanyahu, who had become a fixture in the prime minister’s office for the past 12 years.
