Naftali Bennett, right-wing chief and self-made tech millionaire, who could unseat Netanyahu

Naftali Bennett, Israel’s possible subsequent prime minister, is a self-made tech millionaire who goals of annexing a lot of the occupied West Bank.Bennett has stated that creation of a Palestinian state could be suicide for Israel, citing safety causes.But the standard-bearer of Israel’s spiritual proper and staunch supporter of Jewish settlements stated on Sunday he was becoming a member of forces along with his political opponents to save lots of the nation from political catastrophe.The son of American immigrants, Bennett, 49, is a era youthful than 71-year-old Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s longest-serving chief.A former commando, Bennett named his eldest son after Netanyahu’s brother, Yoni, who was killed in an Israeli raid to free hijacked passengers at Uganda’s Entebbe airport in 1976.ALSO READ: Netanyahu might lose job as Israel PM as rivals try to affix forcesBennett has had a protracted and sometimes rocky relationship with Netanyahu, working between 2006 and 2008 as a senior aide to the then-opposition chief earlier than leaving on reported unhealthy phrases.Bennett stormed into nationwide politics in 2013, revamping a pro-settler get together and serving as minister of defence in addition to of schooling and the economic system in numerous Netanyahu governments.A former chief of Yesha, the principle settler motion within the West Bank, Bennett made annexation of elements of the territory that Israel captured in a 1967 conflict a significant function of his political platform.But as head of a so-called authorities of “change” that may embrace left-wing and centrist events, whereas counting on assist in parliament from Arab legislators, following by on annexation could be politically unfeasible.Bennett stated on Sunday each the fitting and left must compromise on such ideological issues.ALSO READ: Netanyahu makes last-ditch effort as Lapid rallies opposition to unseat Israel’s longest-serving leaderBorn within the Israeli metropolis of Haifa to immigrants from San Francisco, Bennett is a modern-Orthodox spiritual Jew. He lives along with his spouse, Gilat, a dessert chef, and their 4 kids within the prosperous Tel Aviv suburb of Raanana.Like Netanyahu, Bennett speaks fluent American-accented English and spent a few of his childhood in north America, the place his mother and father had been on sabbatical.While working within the high-tech sector, Bennett studied regulation at Jerusalem’s Hebrew University. In 1999, he shaped a start-up after which moved to New York, finally promoting his anti-fraud software program firm, Cyota, to U.S. safety agency RSA for $145 million in 2005.POLICYLast 12 months, as Netanyahu’s authorities sought to press forward with West Bank annexation and settlement constructing within the ultimate months of the Trump administration, Bennett, then defence chief, stated: “The building momentum in the country must not be stopped, even for a second.”The annexation plan was finally scrapped when Israel formalised ties with the United Arab Emirates. Analysts see little likelihood of it being resurrected beneath Donald Trump’s Democratic successor, President Joe Biden, if ever.Nonetheless, Palestinians are more likely to regard Bennett’s elevation as a blow to hopes of a negotiated peace and an unbiased state, the long-standing diplomatic system that Biden favours.After Israel in March held its fourth election in two years Bennett, who leads the far-right Yamina get together, stated a fifth vote could be a nationwide calamity and entered talks with the centre-left block that kinds the principle opposition to Netanyahu.An advocate of liberalising the economic system, Bennett has voiced assist for chopping authorities pink tape and taxes.Unlike a few of his former allies on the spiritual proper, Bennett is relatively liberal on points reminiscent of homosexual rights and the connection between faith and state in a rustic the place Orthodox rabbis wield robust affect.ALSO READ: US to reopen Jerusalem consulate, improve Palestinian ties