Naftali Bennett, then Israel's economy minister, was a guest of the annual Brookings Institution’s Saban Forum in Washington on Dec. 7, 2014. He was interviewed by former Ambassador to Israel Martin Indyk, one of the foremost experts on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict who was instrumental over the years in US efforts to reach an accommodation between the sides.
At the end of their stormy conversation, Indyk looked as though he had been put through the wringer. He had obviously never met anyone like Bennett — an Israeli bucking all conventions and dismissing all pervasive assumptions regarding the two-state solution. Bennett was unapologetic throughout, delivering his various theses in fluent Netanyahu-style English (his Jewish American parents moved to Israel from San Francisco in 1967). Indyk had been given a peek at the future of Israeli politics.
