'We can do it again': Former Israeli PM Naftali Bennett hints at political comeback

Former prime minister Naftali Bennett sparked speculation that he plans to return to politics, when he took to X to mark three years since he was sworn in as Israel’s 13th premier, noting that Israel needed a government that would put the interests of the people before anything else.

היום לפני שלוש שנים נשבעתי אמונים כראש הממשלה ה-13 של מדינת ישראל. במשך קצת יותר משנה שירתתי אתכם אזרחי ישראל כשעמדתי בראשה של ממשלה שעד לאותו רגע הייתה נראית בלתי אפשרית.אחרי ארבעה סבבי בחירות, מגיפת קורונה, משבר כלכלי, מאות אלפי מובטלים ומדינה שנמצאת בשיתוק-שרים משמאל… pic.twitter.com/iJeETjciwN

— Naftali Bennett נפתלי בנט (@naftalibennett) June 13, 2024

“We will yet bring about a state here that is worthy of this nation,” he announced.

Bennett commented on the situation that Israel was in before his unity government was formed, noting that it was after four rounds of elections and the pandemic. “Ministers from the Left and Right decided to put their differences aside and come together to save the State of Israel,” he said.

“We took care of all citizens in Israel and did not put one sector in front of the other,” he added.

Israel’s current reality “demands leadership that knows how to unify the people and do the most basic thing that a government should do: put the interest of the State of Israel before any other consideration, work wisely with the international community, bring all parts of the people into the circle of service, and manage the war with clear goals until our enemies are defeated,” Bennett said.

Politicians react to Bennet

Opposition head Yair Lapid, who led the unity government alongside Bennett, echoed him on Twitter.

“We will yet bring about a state here that is worthy of this nation,” Lapid said in a post on X, which shared Bennett’s original post.

Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism Minister Amichai Chikli (Likud), who entered the Knesset as part of Bennett’s Yamina Party but left the party soon after the elections, also responded to the post.

Today is the third anniversary of Bennett “breaking his promise to hundreds of thousands of voters [that he] would not form a government with those who support [law]suits against IDF officers in The Hague,” said Chikli, adding that he believed Bennett also broke his promise that he would “not be part of a boycott of the biggest right-wing party,” and “would not form a government with a dangerous Islamist party.”

Chikli added that while currently in Israel there is, “without a doubt, a lot to fix and improve,” he did not think that things would have been better under Bennett’s unity government.

This war is complex and being waged under intense international pressure, he said, “but let’s be honest, if Lapid were the prime minister right now, we both know that it’s doubtful that there would be an intense ground operation in Gaza. There certainly would not be an operation in Rafah, and you would probably be walking into the sunset of a surrender deal with [US Secretary of State Antony] Blinken.”