The son of immigrants from the United States, Bennett was born and raised inHaifa. Bennett served in theSayeret Matkal andMaglan special forces units of theIsrael Defense Forces, commanding many combat operations, and subsequently became a software entrepreneur. In 1999, he co-founded and co-owned the US companyCyota. The company was sold in 2005 for $145 million.[4] He also was CEO ofSoluto, an Israeli cloud computing service, that sold in 2013 for a reported $100–130 million.[5]
Bennett entered politics in 2006, as Chief of Staff forBenjamin Netanyahu until 2008. From 2010 to 2012, he was the director of theYesha Council.[6] In 2011, together withAyelet Shaked, he co-founded theMy Israel extra-parliamentary movement.[7]In 2012, Bennett was elected as the party leader ofThe Jewish Home. In the2013 Knesset election, the first contested by The Jewish Home under Bennett's leadership, the party won 12 seats in theKnesset.[8] He served under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asMinister of Economy andReligious Services from 2013 to 2015, before being appointed Minister of Education in 2015. In December 2018, Bennett left The Jewish Home to form theNew Right party.[9] After he lost his Knesset seat in theApril 2019 Knesset election, he was dismissed by Netanyahu as Education Minister in June 2019. He regained his seat in theSeptember 2019 Knesset election, representing theNew Right (now a member of theYamina alliance), and was appointedMinister of Defense, before leaving the position the following year.
In the2021 Knesset election, Yamina under Bennett's leadership won 7 seats. On 2 June 2021, Bennettagreed to arotation government withYair Lapid, whereby Bennett would serve as Israel's prime minister until 2023, after which Lapid would assume the role until 2025.[10] Bennett was sworn in on 13 June 2021.[11] On 20 June 2022, following failures of the coalition to pass bills in the Knesset, Bennett announced he would call for a vote to dissolve the Knesset and step down as prime minister after the dissolution, to be succeeded by Lapid.[12] On 29 June, he announced that he would not seek re-election to the chamber inthe next election that have been scheduled for later in the year.[13] Lapid succeeded him as prime minister on 1 July 2022, while Bennett succeeded Lapid as the Alternate Prime Minister.[14] He announced his resignation as alternative prime minister on 6 November, which became effective on 8 November.[15] Bennett registered a new political party in April 2025 under the placeholder name Bennett 2026.
Early life
Bennett was born inHaifa, Israel, on 25 March 1972.[16] He is the youngest of three sons born to Jim and Myrna (née Lefko) Bennett,[17]American-Jewish immigrants whomoved to Israel fromSan Francisco in July 1967.[18] Both his parents were fromAshkenazi Jewish backgrounds. His father's ancestors were from Poland, Germany, and the Netherlands.[19] Bennett's paternal great-great-great-grandfather Julius Salomonson was fromŁobżenica, Poland, and arrived in San Francisco in 1851 during theCalifornia Gold Rush.[18][20] His mother's ancestors lived in Russia and Poland, and her parents immigrated to the United States prior toWorld War II.[18] They later moved to Israel, joining their daughter's family there, and settled on Vitkin Street in Haifa, close to where Bennett and his brothers grew up.[21] Some of his mother's family members who remained in Poland were murdered inthe Holocaust.[19]
Bennett's parents were raised in non-Orthodox Jewish homes and were progressive activists during the 1960s. His father was arrested while taking part in an anti-racism sit-in protest in 1964. They later began to observeModern Orthodox Judaism and embraced right-wing Israeli politics.[18] After moving to Israel in 1967, they volunteered for a few months at kibbutzDafna, where they studied theHebrew language, then settled in the Ahuza neighborhood of Haifa. Jim Bennett found a job in theTechnion, working for its fundraising team, and became a successful real estate broker and real estate entrepreneur. Myrna Bennett was the deputy director general of theAssociation of Americans and Canadians in Israel's northern region.[21][22]
In the summer of 1973, when Bennett was one year old, the family returned to San Francisco at the urging of his mother.[18] With the outbreak of theYom Kippur War in October 1973, Jim Bennett returned to Israel to fight in theIsrael Defense Forces, serving in an artillery unit on theGolan Heights front.[18] Following the war, the rest of the family returned to Israel at his request as he was held in reserve duty for months after the war. Bennett's parents ultimately decided to stay permanently in Israel.[23]
In 1976, when Bennett was four years old, the family moved toMontreal for two years as part of his father's job.[24] Upon returning to Haifa, Bennett began attending Carmel elementary school. When he was in second grade, the family moved toTeaneck, New Jersey for two years, again as part of his father's job. While living in New Jersey, Bennett attendedYavneh Academy. The family returned to Haifa when Bennett was ten.[25][26] During Bennett's childhood, he visited San Francisco on family vacations nearly every summer.[18]
Bennett has two brothers; they are Asher, a formerIsraeli Navy submarine officer and businessman based in the United Kingdom, and Daniel, an accountant forZim Integrated Shipping Services.[21] Bennett attended YavneYeshiva High School in Haifa and became a group leader (madrich) in the religious Zionist youth movementBnei Akiva.[27][28]
Military service
Bennett was drafted into theIsrael Defense Forces in 1990. He served in the eliteSayeret Matkal commando unit, and after his regular service was selected for officer training. He was given a choice of remaining in Sayeret Matkal but as a regular operator rather than a commander or transferring to theMaglan commando unit to receive a command position and chose to transfer to Maglan. He became a company commander in the Maglan unit.[29][30][31]
Bennett was discharged from active service after six years but continued to serve in thereserves and attained the rank of major. During the time that Bennett was living in the United States and building his career as a software entrepreneur, he repeatedly traveled to Israel to do reserve duty.[30][31] Bennett served during theFirst Intifada and in theIsraeli security zone in Lebanon during the1982–2000 South Lebanon conflict. He commanded many operations. Among other missions, he served as an officer inOperation Grapes of Wrath.[32]
He was called up as a reservist in the Maglan special forces unit during the2006 Lebanon War and participated in asearch and destroy mission behind enemy lines, operating againstHezbollah rocket launchers.[35]
One of Bennett's actions as a commando officer became highly controversial. DuringOperation Grapes of Wrath, while leading a force of 67 Maglan soldiers operating in southern Lebanon, Bennett radioed for support after his unit came under mortar fire. The IDF launched an artillery barrage to cover his force, and the shelling hit aUnited Nations compound in which civilians were taking refuge, an incident that became known as theQana massacre. A total of 106 Lebanese civilians were killed.[31][36]
The incident resulted in a wave of international condemnation, and the subsequent diplomatic pressure caused Israel to end Operation Grapes of Wrath sooner than planned.[36] Journalist Yigal Sarna, writing in Israeli national tabloidYedioth Ahronoth, argued that Bennett displayed "poor judgement" during the operation. Sarna wrote that "Bennett led a force of 67 combat troops into Lebanon. At a certain point, he decided to ignore orders and change operational plans, without coordinating these moves with his superiors, who in his mind were cowardly, and not steadfast enough. Near the village of Kfar Kana, Bennett's troops were caught in an ambush."[37]
Citing a "senior army figure", journalistRaviv Drucker said that Bennett's radio call for support after his unit came under fire was "hysterical" and contributed to the loss of life which occurred. Bennett responded: "I have now been subjected to an attack claiming that I am 'responsible for the massacre in Kfar Kana.' Heroism will not be investigated. Keep looking in the archives. My military file is available for viewing, and it's waiting for you."[36] Former members of Bennett's unit wrote a letter defending him, saying: "Naftali ... led many successful operations that led to the elimination of Hezbollah terrorists deep in enemy territory." Other officers involved in the operation, including one who was Bennett's deputy during the Qana incident, also denied that he had changed plans without consulting his superiors.[36][38]
In 1999, Bennett co-foundedCyota, an anti-fraud software company, and became its CEO.[41][42] He moved toNew York City in 2000 to oversee Cyota's corporate development, settling on theUpper East Side ofManhattan, and lived there for four years.[41][43] In 2005, the company was sold toRSA Security for $145 million, making Bennett a multimillionaire.[42][41] A stipulation of the deal allowed the Israeli arm of Cyota to remain intact. As of 2013, 400 Israelis were employed at the company's Israeli offices inBeersheba andHerzliya.[27]
Bennett was the CEO ofSoluto, a technology company providing cloud-based service that enables remote support for personal computers and mobile devices in 2009, at a time when he and partner Lior Golan were engaged in raising funds for myriad Israeli technology startup companies. Soluto had hitherto raised $20 million from investors, including venture capital funds Giza Venture Capital, Proxima Ventures,Bessemer Venture Partners,Index Ventures,Michael Arrington's CrunchFund, andEric Schmidt's Innovation Endeavors and Initial Capital. The sale of Soluto for a reported $100–130 million to the American companyAsurion was finalized in October 2013.[44][45][5]
In June 2021,Forbes Israel reported that Bennett was expected to make $5 million from his investment in the Americanfintech companyPayoneer.[46][47] Bennett invested several hundred thousand dollars in the company before entering politics. Payoneer is set to list on theNasdaq stock exchange with a $3.3 billion valuation after reaching aSPAC merger with FTAC Olympus Acquisition Corp in February 2021.[46]
Political career
Minister of Education Naftali Bennett (right) with Minister of JusticeAyelet Shaked (above center), Minister of CultureMiri Regev (left), and Prime MinisterBenjamin Netanyahu (below center)Bennett with U.S. Defense SecretaryMark Esper in February 2020
From 2010 to 2012, Bennett served as the director of theYesha Council. In April 2011, together withAyelet Shaked, he co-foundedMy Israel, which claims to have 94,000 Israeli members. In April 2012, he founded a movement named Yisraelim ("Israelis"). The movement's main goals include increasingZionism amongcentre-right supporters, increasing dialogue between the religious and secular communities, and promoting "The Israel Stability Initiative."[48][49]
After being reelected in the2015 Knesset election, Bennett was appointedMinister of Education and retained the Diaspora Affairs portfolio in thenew government. In May 2015, Netanyahu split the Ministry of Jerusalem and Diaspora Affairs, initially taking back the Jerusalem Affairs portfolio for himself.[55] He later appointedZe'ev Elkin to the role of Jerusalem Affairs Minister.[56] As Minister of Education, Bennett issued an official order prohibiting school principals from inviting members ofBreaking the Silence and other organizations that denounce Israel's military conduct in theWest Bank.[57]
In October 2015, Bennett resigned from the Knesset in order to allowShuli Mualem to take his seat. His resignation took place under theNorwegian Law, which allowed ministers to resign their seats when in the cabinet but return to the Knesset if they leave the government.[58] He returned to the Knesset on 6 December afterAvi Wortzman opted to vacate his seat,[59] having temporarily had to resign as a minister in order to do so.[60]
FollowingAvigdor Lieberman's resignation as Defense Minister in November 2018, Bennett announced that he was seeking the position for himself.[61][62] On 16 November 2018, a Likud party spokesman announced that Netanyahu had rejected Bennett's request and that Netanyahu himself would take the position instead.[62] It was then announced that Bennett's Jewish Home party would no longer be affiliated with Netanyahu's government.[63] On 19 November, Bennett reneged on his pledge to withdraw from Netanyahu's coalition.[64]
In December 2018, Bennett was among the Jewish Home MKs to leave the party and form the breakawayNew Right party.[65] In theApril 2019 Knesset election, New Right narrowly failed to cross the electoral threshold; as a result, Bennett did not gain a seat in the 21st Knesset.[66] In June 2019, he left the government after Netanyahu dismissed Bennett from his positions as Education and Diaspora Affairs Minister.[67]
After the Knesset dissolved and asecond election in 2019 was called for September, the New Right formed an electoral alliance with the Jewish Home andNational Union-Tkuma, named the United Right[68] which was later renamedYamina, and was led by Ayelet Shaked.[69] The list won seven seats in the election, and Bennett regained his Knesset seat.[70] In November 2019, Bennett rejoined Netanyahu's government asMinister of Defense.[71] After briefly dissolving, the Yamina alliance was reunified in January 2020 ahead of the2020 Knesset election, with Bennett succeedingAyelet Shaked as the new leader of the alliance.[72] Yamina won six seats in that election.[73]
In May 2020, with negotiations taking place between Netanyahu andBenny Gantz (leader of the centristBlue and White alliance) to form a new government, Yamina announced that it would go into the opposition, ending Bennett's tenure as Defense Minister.[74] The day before,Rafi Peretz, the leader ofThe Jewish Home, had split from the alliance, and would be named as theMinister of Jerusalem in thethirty-fifth government of Israel.[75][76] On 17 May, Bennett met with Gantz, who also succeeded him as Defense Minister, and declared that Yamina was now a "head held high" member of the opposition.[77] Tkuma, which rebranded as theReligious Zionist Party on 7 January 2021,[78] split from Yamina on 20 January.[79] In spite of this, Yamina won seven seats in the2021 Knesset election in March.[80]
On 9 May 2021, it was reported that Bennett andLeader of the Opposition andYesh Atid leaderYair Lapid had made major headway in coalition talks for forming a new Israeli government which would oust Prime MinisterBenjamin Netanyahu.[81][82] On 30 May, Bennett announced that he would be prime minister in arotation government until August 2023, at which point Lapid would take over as prime minister until 2025.[83] Bennett was sworn in on 13 June, ending Netanyahu's 12-year tenure in office.[11] He is Israel's firstkippah-wearing prime minister.[84][85]
On the fast of9th of Av, 2021, as hundreds of Jews went to mourn on the temple mount, where it was forbidden for them to pray,[86] Bennett wrote: "The Jewish people twice had a Jewish state on the Land of Israel, and both times we did not succeed to complete the eighth decade as an independent state, because of internal wars and baseless hatred ... At the time of the Romansiege on Jerusalem, the nation was divided, each group entrenched itself in its own position, and burned the food stores of the others, as part of the internal power struggle, so theRomans had a much easier task. The bitter end we all know, and until today every year on this date we mourn the awful destruction which a people with a little more baseless love, restraint, and listening, could have saved us from."[87]
Upon the government's formation in June 2021, it held 61 seats in theKnesset; all thesemembers of the Knesset (MK) came from coalition parties excluding Yamina'sAmichai Chikli.[88][89][90] On 6 April 2022, Yamina MKIdit Silman, resigned from the coalition, causing the governing coalition to lose its majority in the Knesset.[91] On 13 June, Yamina MKNir Orbach left the coalition, arguing that left-wing members of the coalition were holding it hostage.[92] Several days later, on 20 June, Bennett and Lapid announced the introduction of a bill to dissolve the Knesset in a joint statement, stating that Lapid would become the interim prime minister following the dissolution.[93] The Knesset was dissolved on the night of 30 June, ending Bennett's term as prime minister.[94]
COVID-19 pandemic
At the time of Bennett's assumption of office, theCOVID-19 pandemic in Israel had somewhat subsided, with a low nationalinfection rate and with 55% of the Israeli population having received two or moreCOVID-19 vaccines. Within ten days of his assumption of office, Israel underwent an outbreak of theDelta variant. In response, Bennett encouraged renewedsocial distancing, and the vaccination of all children aged twelve and above.[95] In addition, he reached a deal withPfizer to provide previously purchased vaccines before their intended delivery date to ensure the accessibility of the vaccine,[96] and to provide additional vaccines in case a secondbooster shot becomes necessary.[97] Following the variant's continued spread, a second booster shot and third overall shot was approved by the government on 1 August 2021 for all individuals aged 60 or older,[98] which was expanded on 29 August to all adults.[99]
Israel experienced a surge in COVID cases beginning in late November 2021. By December, the first cases of theOmicron variant were being reported in the country, the government responded by restricting air travel to the country and encouraging the vaccination of children and teenagers. On 2 January 2022, following an additional surge in late December, a third booster shot, and a fourth overall shot, was approved by the government for all individuals aged 60 or older.[100] Cases grew at a steady pace through January and began to decrease, stabilizing again in March[101] before continuing to fall. Israel ended itsmask mandate in late April.[102]
KingMohammed VI of Morocco sent a special congratulatory letter to Prime Minister Bennett upon his taking office. Bennett responded that he would "work to reinforce Israeli-Moroccan relations in all areas".[103] Israel andMorocco restored diplomatic relations on 10 December 2020, as part of theIsrael–Morocco normalization agreement involving the United States, which at the same time recognized Morocco's sovereignty over the disputed territory ofWestern Sahara.[104] In August 2021, the two parties agreed to enter formal diplomatic relations, and to open embassies inTel Aviv andMarrakesh respectively.[105]
On 27 September, Bennett addressed the general assembly of theUnited Nations in his first speech there. He talked about fighting theCOVID-19 pandemic and combatting political polarization. In addition, Bennett denouncedIran's allegedstate-sponsored terrorism, which he argued brought harm not only to Israel but also to many countries in theMiddle East. He warned of Iran's efforts to acquirenuclear weapons, stating that Israel would not allow it.[109]
Bennett with Russian PresidentVladimir Putin, October 2021
On 5 March 2022, Bennett met withRussian PresidentVladimir Putin in order to discuss theRussian invasion of Ukraine in a meeting coordinated with the United States,France, andGermany. TheKremlin stated that Bennett had offered to mediate between Putin andUkrainian presidentVolodymyr Zelenskyy.[112][113][114] Bennett then flew on the same day to Germany to briefGerman chancellorOlaf Scholz, updated French President Macron by telephone, and spoke with Zelenskyy twice in the evening, but few details were disclosed publicly.[115] According toAl Monitor, the meetings were instigated by Scholz who made a lightning visit to Israel on 3 March and held a long one-on-one meeting, which resulted in the mediation idea.[116]Natan Sharansky, former head of theJewish Agency for Israel, criticised Bennett, saying he was afraid to call out Putin by name for war crimes, and said Israel should provide defensive arms to Ukraine.[117] Bennett later faced criticism for putting himself forward as neutral mediator amid global condemnation of Putin, while refusing requests from Ukraine for military equipment.[118]
Alternate Prime Minister and post-political career
Upon the end of his term, Bennett became theAlternate Prime Minister of Israel on 30 June.[94] On 29 June 2022, Bennett announced that he would not run in thenext election, and retire from politics at the end of his term as Alternate Prime Minister.[119] Following the election, Bennett resigned from his position on 6 November, with his term ending two days later.[120] Following his retirement, Bennett joined theboard of directors of Israeli Tech company Quantom Source in May 2023.[121]
Bennett registered a new political party in April 2025 under the name Bennett 2026,[124] but has not determined whether he will run in the next Knesset election.[125]
According to party registration paperwork filed by Bennett 2026 with the Israeli Corporations Authority, the party plans to "restore security to Israel, and restore the people’s trust in Israel’s ability to defend its borders and the interior of the country while implementing an active security concept." The founders of the party include Bennett, "his wife, Gilat", former member of the Communications Ministry Liran Avissar Ben-Horin, formerStrauss Group executive Gadi Lesin and Bruria Naim Erman, who is the founder of a PR firm. The founding members also include Giora Levi, who was Bennett’s commander while he served in the Sayeret Matkal unit, as well as Ofer Ogash, who previously ran for the Knesset as part of Bennett’s previous party and former Target Market executive Nir Novak.[127]
According to a report byChannel 12, Bennett is expected to retain close control of the party; he will manage the Knesset faction and will remain party leader until 2034. In addition, he will be the only person in the party to select candidates for the party'selectoral list, will have the sole ability to choose government ministers, and will control the selection of Knesset committee members. This is in contrast to thethirty-sixth government of Israel, where numerous members of his party defected from his government and ultimately brought about its collapse.[128]
Bennett stated at aKfar Saba conference on 4 September that he would head a centrist slate of candidates in the next election, potentially includingGadi Eisenkot andAvigdor Lieberman, and plans to create a Zionist unity government, which would pursue the creation of an Israeli constitution, and would imposeterm limits for prime ministers.[126]
In January 2013, Bennett suggested a tripartition of thePalestinian territories, whereby Israel would unilaterally annexArea C, authority over theGaza Strip would be transferred toEgypt, andArea A andArea B would remain with thePalestinian National Authority, but under the security umbrella of theIsrael Defense Forces andShin Bet to "ensure quiet, suppress Palestinian terrorism, and prevent Hamas from taking over the territory." Area C constituted 62% of the area, and approximately 365,000 people lived inIsraeli settlements. Palestinians who lived in this area would be offered Israeli citizenship or permanent residency status (between 48,000, according to Bennett, and 150,000, according to other surveys).[136]
Finally, Israel would invest in creating roads so Palestinians could travel between Areas A and B without checkpoints, and invest in infrastructure and joint industrial zones, because "[p]eace grows from below – through people, and people in daily life." Bennett also resisted immigration of Palestinian refugees now living outside the West Bank, or the connection between theHamas-controlled Gaza Strip and the West Bank. In 2011, he stated that there were about 50 factories in the West Bank industrial region where Israelis and Palestinians work together and cited this as one workable approach to finding peace between the two sides.[137]
In June 2013, Bennett suggested that Israel must learn to live with the Palestinian problem without a "surgical action" of separation to two states: "I have a friend who's got shrapnel in his rear end, and he's been told that it can be removed surgically, but it would leave him disabled ... . So he decided to live with it. There are situations where insisting on perfection can lead to more trouble than it's worth." Bennett's "Shrapnel in the butt" quickly became widely known as representing his view of the Palestinian problem.[138][139]
In response toIsrael's release of Palestinian prisoners in 2013, Bennett said that Palestinian terrorists should be shot, allegedly adding: "I already killed lots of Arabs in my life, and there is absolutely no problem with that."[140][141] Bennett was widely condemned for these words,[142] although he denied saying them, claiming he said merely that "terrorists should be killed if they pose an immediate life threat to our soldiers when in action."[143] In January 2013, Bennett said: "There is not going to be a Palestinian state within the tiny land of Israel [referring to the area from theJordan River to theMediterranean Sea]. It's just not going to happen. A Palestinian state would be a disaster for the next 200 years."[144]
In December 2014, a group of academics who opposed theBoycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement and members ofThe Third Narrative, aLabor Zionist organization, called on the U.S. and E.U. to impose sanctions on Bennett and three other Israelis "who lead efforts to insure permanent Israeli occupation of the West Bank and to annex all or parts of it unilaterally in violation of international law." The academics, who called themselves Scholars for Israel and Palestine (SIP) and claimed to be "pro-Israel, pro-Palestine, pro-peace", asked the U.S. and EU to freeze Bennett's foreign assets and impose visa restrictions.[145] Bennett was chosen as a target for proposed sanctions because of his work in opposing the 2010 settlement freeze while he was director of theYesha Council, actively supporting annexation of over 60% of the West Bank, and "pressing strongly for a policy of creeping annexation."[146]
In October 2016, Bennett said: "On the matter of the Land of Israel, we have to move from holding action to a decision. We have to mark the dream, and the dream is that Judea and Samaria will be part of the sovereign State of Israel. We have to act today, and we must give our lives. We can't keep marking the Land of Israel as a tactical target and a Palestinian state as the strategic target."[147] In November 2016, Bennett said that the election ofDonald Trump asPresident of the United States gave him hope that the two-state solution would no longer be considered viable, claiming: "The era of the Palestinian state is over."[148]
According to Israeli journalistAnshel Pfeffer, those who have worked with Bennett have privately said that much of his rhetoric is for electioneering purposes, and he is in fact more moderate than believed.[31] In spite of his expressed right-wing views against a Palestinian state, while engaged in coalition negotiations for a unity government withYair Lapid and other party leaders following the2021 Knesset election, during which he was offered the prime ministership, Bennett agreed to a policy of not annexing any territory in the West Bank and to not build any new settlements while being prime minister in a potential unity government.[149]
In October 2023, during theGaza war, he expressed support for Israel'stotal blockade of the Gaza Strip, saying "I'm not going to feed electricity to my enemies."[150] Following the beginning of theIsraeli invasion of the Gaza Strip, Bennett advised against a directground invasion and occupation of major cities, but rather for Israel to create buffer zones and conduct sporadic ground raids against isolated pockets of Hamas militants. He believes that this is the best plan that would drain Hamas's resources while it protects Gazan civilians and prevents the collapse of theIsraeli economy.[151]
Bennett believes in less government regulation of the private sector and that private businesses are the engine of economic growth. He favors social support of vulnerable populations such as the elderly and disabled. Bennett has said Israel needs to break the monopoly of the tycoons, the major labor unions, and theMinistry of Defense,[152] which in his opinion are stranglingIsrael's economy. He believes the key to reducing disparities is equality of opportunity and investment ineducation in the periphery, to give tools to populations of weaker economic backgrounds. By doing so, Bennett believes weaker populations in Israel will be given the opportunity to succeed professionally and financially. He supports the provision of land to veterans in the periphery, in theNegev, and theGalilee, to promote a national solution to the problem of "affordable housing"[153][154] and a more equitable distribution of thepopulation in Israel.[155] He has also pledged to remove heavy bureaucratic challenges to small and medium-sized Israeli businesses.[156]
As Economy Minister, Bennett oversaw a new strategy by Israel to increase trade withemerging markets around the world and reduce trade with theEuropean Union, so as to diversify its foreign trade. The two main reasons for this shift are to take advantage of opportunities in emerging markets and to avert the threat of possible EU sanctions on Israel over the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Bennett acknowledged that he was seeking to reduce Israel's economic dependence on the EU to reduce its influence on Israel. According to theFinancial Times, Bennett is the primary architect of this economic pivot. Under his leadership, the Economy Ministry began opening new trade attaché offices inAsia,Africa, andSouth America, and also began closing some trade offices in Europe and consolidating others with offices in neighboring countries. As part of this process, Bennett opened negotiations withRussia andChina on free trade agreements, oversaw continuing negotiations withIndia for a free trade agreement, and led economic delegations to China and India. While attending theWorld Trade Organization Ministerial Conference of 2013 inBali,Indonesia, Bennett held talks with delegations from some unspecified countries on the possibility of future free trade agreements.[157][158][159]
Bennett implemented reforms to lower Israel's highfood prices. Under his oversight, import duties and barriers were reduced, and mechanisms were set up to ensure more competition in the Israeli food industry. These reforms have been credited with a decline in Israeli food prices that began in April 2014 and continued throughout the rest of the year and into 2015.[160] According to aHaaretz editorial, a fall in global commodity prices and dire financial straits among many Israeli consumers prompted the decline, not the reforms.[161] Bennett has led a push to integrateHaredi men, many of whom are unemployed, into the workforce. According to Bennett, their integration into the workforce will greatly bolster economic growth. Under his "voucher plan", theMinistry of the Economy issues vouchers for hundreds of vocational schools that will allow Haredi men to avoidmandatory military service, at least temporarily, in exchange for enrolling in a vocational school to learn a trade. Bennett also wants to increase employment rate amongIsraeli-Arab women.[162][163][164] In October 2021, Bennett's administration approved plans to spend billions of dollars to improve conditions for Israel's Arab minority.[162]
An adherent ofOrthodox Judaism, Bennett opposes the implementation ofsame-sex marriage in Israel, "just as we don't recognize milk and meat together as kosher",[165] but has expressed support for equivalent rights such as tax breaks for same-sex couples.[165][166] Followingthe murder of a 16-year-old girl at theJerusalem gay pride parade in 2015, Bennett, who was Education Minister at the time, instructed the Education Ministry to prepare programs to prevent future attacks on the LGBTQ community, saying: "We are responding to this attack with actions and not just talk."[167] While Bennett has voiced support for LGBTQ rights, saying "they deserve all of the civil rights", he stated in late 2020 that he had no plans to push for policy changes to help LGBTQ people.[168]
Personal life
Bennett marriedGilat Ethel Einav in 1999, while he was a law student and reserve Maglan officer. The couple had met during her military service as an educational NCO in theParatroopers Brigade, when she invited him to lecture her soldiers. She worked as a professional pastry chef before becoming a parent counselor.[169][170] She was secular, but following her husband she now observes theSabbath andkashrut.[21] The couple have four children and live inRa'anana, a city 20 kilometres (12 mi) north of Tel Aviv.[21][43][144] They have four children: sons Yonatan and David and daughters Avigail and Michal. Their son Yonatan is named afterYonatan Netanyahu and the middle name of their son David Emmanuel is in honor ofEmmanuel Moreno, who was a comrade of Bennett's in the special forces.[170][171][172] Bennett adheres toModern Orthodox Judaism.[21][173][174][175]
^"Was Naftali Bennett responsible for a massacre of Lebanese civilians?".The Jerusalem Post. 6 January 2015. Retrieved8 March 2021.[Quoting Israeli national tabloidYedioth Ahronoth and writingQana asKfar Kana] 'Near the village of Kfar Kana, Bennett's troops were caught in an ambush… 102 civilians were killed and 10 wounded, of them four United Nations peacekeepers,'
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