Naftali Bennett

Not to be confused with Natalie Bennett.

Naftali Bennett
נַפְתָּלִי בֶּנֶט
Bennett seated with his arms resting on a table
Official portrait, 2021
13th Prime Minister of Israel
In office
13 June 2021 – 30 June 2022
President
AlternateYair Lapid
Preceded byBenjamin Netanyahu
Succeeded byYair Lapid
3rd Alternate Prime Minister of Israel
In office
1 July 2022 – 8 November 2022
Prime MinisterYair Lapid
Preceded byYair Lapid
Succeeded byOffice vacant
Ministerial roles
2013–2015Economy
Religious Services
2013–2019Diaspora Affairs
2015–2019Education
2019–2020Defense
2021–2022Community Affairs
Faction represented in the Knesset
2013–2018The Jewish Home
2018–2019New Right
2019Yamina
2019–2020New Right
2020–2022Yamina
Personal details
Born (1972-03-25) 25 March 1972 (age 52)
Haifa, Israel
Political partyNew Right (2018–present)
Other political
affiliations
Spouse
​
(m. 1999)​
Children4
Alma materHebrew University of Jerusalem (LLB)
Occupation
  • Politician
  • businessman
  • soldier
Websitenaftalibennett.co.il Edit this at Wikidata
Military service
Branch/serviceIsrael Defense Forces
Years of service1990–1996
RankRav seren (Major)
Unit
Battles/wars

Naftali Bennett (Hebrew: נַפְתָּלִי בֶּנֶט, romanized: Naftālī Beneṭ, pronounced [naftaˈli ˈbenet]; born 25 March 1972) is an Israeli politician who served as the 13th prime minister of Israel from 13 June 2021 to 30 June 2022, and as the 3rd Alternate Prime Minister of Israel from 1 July to 8 November 2022.[1][2] Bennett was the leader of the New Right party from 2018 to 2022, having previously led The Jewish Home party between 2012 and 2018.[3]

The son of immigrants from the United States, Bennett was born and raised in Haifa. Bennett served in the Sayeret Matkal and Maglan special forces units of the Israel Defense Forces, commanding many combat operations, and subsequently became a software entrepreneur. In 1999, he co-founded and co-owned the US company Cyota. The company was sold in 2005 for $145 million.[4] He also was CEO of Soluto, an Israeli cloud computing service, sold in 2013 for a reported $100–130 million.[5]

Bennett entered politics in 2006, as Chief of Staff for Benjamin Netanyahu until 2008. From 2010 to 2012, he was the director of the Yesha Council.[6] In 2011, together with Ayelet Shaked, he co-founded the My Israel extra-parliamentary movement.[7] In 2012, Bennett was elected as the party leader of The Jewish Home. In the 2013 Knesset election, the first contested by The Jewish Home under Bennett's leadership, the party won 12 seats in the Knesset.[8] He served under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as Minister of Economy and Religious Services from 2013 to 2015, before being appointed Minister of Education in 2015. In December 2018, Bennett left The Jewish Home to form the New Right party.[9] After he lost his Knesset seat in the April 2019 Knesset election, he was dismissed by Netanyahu as Education Minister in June 2019. He regained his seat in the September 2019 Knesset election, representing the New Right (now a member of the Yamina alliance), and was appointed Minister of Defense, before leaving the position the following year.

In the 2021 Knesset election, Yamina under Bennett's leadership won 7 seats. On 2 June 2021, Bennett agreed to a rotation government with Yair 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 in the 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]

  1. ^ Bachner, Michael (8 June 2021). "Swearing-in of Bennett-Lapid gov't that would replace Netanyahu set for Sunday". The Times of Israel. Retrieved 11 June 2021.
  2. ^ "Israel gets new PM as Netanyahu targets comeback". BBC News. 30 June 2022. Retrieved 5 July 2022.
  3. ^ Wootliff, Raoul (10 October 2019). "Yamina party officially splits into New Right, Jewish Home-National Union". The Times of Israel. Retrieved 21 October 2019.
  4. ^ Chafets, Zev (15 June 2021). "For Naftali Bennett, It Was Never About the Money". BloombergQuint.
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference success was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ "Naftali Bennett". Government of Israel. 17 February 2023. Retrieved 4 October 2024.
  7. ^ "Israel's election: A newly hatched hawk flies high". The Economist. 5 January 2013. Archived from the original on 23 June 2018. Retrieved 8 March 2021.
  8. ^ Harkov, Lahav; SharoN, Jeremy; Stern, Gil (24 January 2013). "Final election count: Right bloc 61, Center-Left 59 seats". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 23 June 2021.
  9. ^ Wootliff, Raoul (29 December 2018). "Bennett, Shaked quit Jewish Home, announce formation of 'HaYamin HeHadash'". The Times of Israel. Retrieved 23 June 2021.
  10. ^ Kingsley, Patrick (2 June 2021). "Wide-Ranging Israel Coalition Reaches Deal to Form Government". The New York Times. Retrieved 2 June 2021.
  11. ^ Wootliff, Raoul (13 June 2021). "Bennett sworn in as prime minister, unseating Netanyahu after 12 years in power". The Times of Israel. Archived from the original on 14 June 2021. Retrieved 14 June 2021.
  12. ^ Estrin, Daniel (20 June 2022). "Israel's prime minister is stepping down, sparking a new round of elections". NPR. Retrieved 24 June 2022.
  13. ^ "N12 – רה"מ נפתלי בנט הודיע: "לא אתמודד בבחירות הקרובות לכנסת"" [Prime Minister Naftali Bennett announced: 'I will not run in the next Knesset election']. N12. 29 June 2022. Retrieved 29 June 2022.
  14. ^ "All Governments of Israel". Knesset. Retrieved 14 June 2021.
  15. ^ "Bennett officially resigns as alternate prime minister". The Times of Israel. Retrieved 6 November 2022.