Naftali Bennett

Naftali Bennett
Naftali Bennett
נַפְתָּלִי בֶּנֶט
	Official portrait, 2021
13th Prime Minister of Israel
	In office; 13 June 2021 – 30 June 2022
President	Reuven Rivlin; Isaac Herzog;
Alternate	Yair Lapid
Preceded by	Benjamin Netanyahu
Succeeded by	Yair Lapid
3rd Alternate Prime Minister of Israel
	In office; 1 July 2022 – 8 November 2022
Prime Minister	Yair Lapid
Preceded by	Yair Lapid
Ministerial roles
Faction represented in the Knesset
Personal details
Born	25 March 1972 (age 52); Haifa, Israel
Political party	New Right (2018–present)
Other political; affiliations	Likud (2005–2008); The Jewish Home (2012–2018);
Spouse(s)	Gilat Bennett (m. 1999)
Children	4
Residence	Ra'anana, Israel
Alma mater	Hebrew University of Jerusalem (LLB)
Occupation	Politician; businessman; soldier;
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Military service
Branch/service	Israel Defense Forces
Years of service	1990–1996
Rank	Rav seren (Major)
Unit	Sayeret Matkal; Maglan;
Battles/wars	First Intifada; South Lebanon conflict (1985–2000); Second Intifada; 2006 Lebanon War;

Naftali Bennett, Hebrew: נפתלי בנט , (born March 25, 1972 in Haifa) is an Israeli politician of HaYamin HeHadash ("New Right") and the Yamina alliance. He was the 13th Prime Minister of Israel from 2021 to 2022. Previously he belonged to HaBayit HaYehudi ("The Jewish Home").

Military and business career

He performed his military service in an IDF special forces combat unit, in which he saw action in several operations. (He is a reservist with the rank of major). Afterwards he studied law at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Before entering into politics, he worked in software, which has made him very wealthy. He was the CEO of software companies Cyota and Soluto.^[1]

Political career

Bennett has been a member of Knesset since 2013. He was Minister of the Economy and Minister of Religious Services in the third Netanyahu government, from 2013 to 2015. Since 2013 he has been Minister of Diaspora Affairs and since 2015 also Minister of Education, both in the fourth Netanyahu government.

As the Education minister, he wants more content about Judaism in Israeli schools. This affects the secular public school system as well as religious public schools. Furthermore, he is absolutely against the establishment of an independent Palestinian state.

Prime Minister

After the 2021 Israel-Palestine crisis, Bennett announced that he agreed to a deal with Yair Lapid to forge a coalition government that would remove Benjamin Netanyahu from his Prime Minister position.^[2] This was after the 2021 March election.^[3] Mid June he has become Prime Minister, leading the Bennett-Lapid Government, which is the 36th government of Israel. In March 2022, he helped Russia and Ukraine communicate after the war broke out.^[4]

On 20 June 2022, Bennett announced that he will call for a vote to dissolve the Knesset and step down as prime minister shortly after its dissolution, to be replaced by Lapid.^[5] On June 29, he announced that he would not seek re-election to the chamber in the next legislative election.^[6]

Personal life

Naftali is an observer of Modern Orthodox Judaism. Until his election into the Knesset, he was also a citizen of the United States due to his parents being US citizens who emigrated to Israel.

Naftali Bennett Media

Minister of Education Naftali Bennett (right) with Minister of Justice Ayelet Shaked (above center), Minister of Culture Miri Regev (left), and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (below center)
Bennett with U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper in February 2020
Bennett and his Cabinet with President Reuven Rivlin, June 2021
Bennett with US President Joe Biden, August 2021
Bennett with Russian President Vladimir Putin, October 2021
Bennett at the pre-election foreign-policy debate at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 8 January 2013
Bennett with President of Israel Reuven Rivlin, Michal Ansky, and Ofra Strauss at the Jasmine businesswomen's convention for promotion of small and medium-sized enterprises, Israel, 15 December 2014
Gilat and Naftali Bennett, Chidon Hatanach, 2017