Naftali Bennett

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Naftali Bennett (born 25 March 1972) is an Israeli politician who served in the Jewish Home Party from 2012 to 2018 and now serves as an MK for New Right and as the head of the Ministry of Defense.

He served as Israel's Education Minister from 2015 to 2019, as well as Minister of Diaspora Affairs from 2013 to 2019.

He served as Minister of Finance and Minister of Religious Affairs between 2013 and 2015. Bennett was born and raised in Haifa, the son of migrant immigrants from the United States, and later became a software programmer.

Cyota, a US-based anti-fraud firm, focused on online banking fraud, e-commerce fraud, and phishing in 1999. He co-founded and co-owned the US firm Cyota, which was based in the United States.

In 2005, the company was sold for $145 million.

He has also been CEO of Soluto, an Israeli cloud computing service, which was sold in 2013 for $100 to $150 million.

He began serving as Chief of Staff for Benjamin Netanyahu until 2008.

He co-founded My Israel extra-parliamentary party in 2011 alongside Ayelet Shaked.

The party secured 12 seats out of 120 in the 2013 Knesset elections, the first presidential election under Bennett's leadership.

Early life

Bennett was born in Haifa, Israel, on March 25, 1972. He is the youngest of three sons born to Jim and Myrna Bennett, An American-Jewish immigrants who immigrated to Israel from San Francisco in 1967. Both his parents were from Ashkenazi Jewish roots. His father's ancestors were from Poland, Germany, and the Netherlands. Julius Salomonson, Bennett's paternal great-great-grandfather, was from obenica, Poland, and arrived in San Francisco in 1851 during the California Gold Rush. His mother's ancestors lived in Russia and Poland, and her parents immigrated to the United States prior to World War II. They later moved to Israel, where they adopted their daughter's family and established Vitkin Street in Haifa, close to where Bennett and his brothers grew up. Several of his mother's relatives who remained in Poland were killed in the Holocaust.

Bennett's parents were raised in non-Orthodox Jewish homes and became feminist activists in the 1960s. In 1964, his father was arrested while participating in an anti-racism sit-in demonstration. They began to practice Modern Orthodox Judaism and embraced right-wing Israeli politics later. They volunteered for a few months at kibbutz Dafna, where they learned the Hebrew language, and then settled in Haifa's Ahuza neighborhood. Jim Bennett spent his time in the technion, assassinating the company's fundraising team, and became a thriving real estate broker and real estate developer. In Israel's northern region, Myrna Bennett was the deputy director general of the Association of Americans and Canadians.

Bennett's family returned to San Francisco in 1973, when he was a year old, at the behest of his mother. Jim Bennett returned to Israel to fight in the Israel Defense Forces, fighting in an artillery unit on the Golan Heights front shortly after the outbreak of the Yom Kippur War in October 1973. Following the war, the majority of the family returned to Israel at his request, having been held in reserve service for months after the war. Bennett's parents did not choose to remain in Israel permanently, which was disappointing.

Bennett was four years old when his family immigrated to Montreal for two years as part of his father's work. Bennett started attending Carmel elementary school on returning to Haifa. The family lived in Teaneck, New Jersey, for two years, as part of his father's occupation. Bennett attended Yavneh Academy while living in New Jersey. When Bennett was ten years old, the family returned to Haifa.

Bennett has two brothers, Asher, a former Israeli Navy submarine officer and businessman based in the United Kingdom, and Daniel, an accountant for Zim Integrated Shipping Services. Bennett attended Yavne Yeshiva High School in Haifa and became a youth leader (madrich) for the religious Zionist youth group Bnei Akiva.

Bennett was recruited into the Israel Defense Forces in 1990. He served in the elite Sayeret Matkal commando unit, and after his regular service was selected for officer training, he was recruited for officer training. He was given the option of remaining in Sayeret Matkal but as a regular operator rather than a commander, or moving to Maglan's commando unit in order to gain a command position, and chose to move to Maglan. He was appointed as the Maglan unit's chief.

Bennett was recalled from active service after six years but continued to serve in the reserves and reached the rank of major. Bennett was often travelling to Israel to do reserve service when he was living in the United States and starting his career as a software entrepreneur. During the 1982–2000 South Lebanon war, Bennett served in the First Intifada and in the Israeli security zone in Lebanon. He was in charge of many operations. He served as an officer in Operation Grapes of Wrath, among other missions.

Bennett obtained a law degree from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem after his regular IDF service. Operation Defensive Shield was part of Operation Intifada during the Second Intifada.

During the 2006 Lebanon War, he was sent as a reservist in the Maglan special forces unit and was deployed in a search and destroy mission against Hezbollah rocket launchers.

Bennett's time as a commando officer became highly tense. Bennett, who was leading a team of 67 Maglan soldiers operating in southern Lebanon, called for assistance after his unit was struck by mortar fire. To protect his troops, the IDF launched an artillery barrage, and the shelling struck a United Nations base in which civilians were fleeing, the Qana massacre was confirmed. A total of 106 Lebanese civilians were killed.

The incident resulted in a wave of international condemnation, as well as diplomatic pressure causing Israel to pull Operation Grapes of Wrath sooner than planned. Yigal Sarna, a journalist who wrote in Israel's national tabloid Yedioth Ahronoth, argued that Bennett exhibited "poor judgement" during the operation. "Bennett led a force of 67 combat troops into Lebanon," Sarna said. At a certain point, he decided to ignore orders and change operational plans instead of coordinating these shifts with his superiors, who were cowardly and not steadfast enough. Bennett's troops were trapped in an ambush near the village of Kfar Kana.

Bennett's radio call for assistance after his unit came under fire was "hysterical" and contributed to the loss of life, according to journalist Raviv Drucker. Bennett replied: "I have now been exposed to an assault alleging that I am'responsible for the massacre in Kfar Kana." Heroism will not be investigated. Keep checking the archives. My military file is available for viewing, and it is eagerly awaiting for you to see it." Former Bennett's service members wrote a letter defending him, saying: "Naftali... conducted numerous successful operations that culminated in the removal of Hezbollah terrorists deep inside the enemy zone." Other officers involved in the investigation, including one who was Bennett's deputy during the Qana incident, denied that he had changed plans without consulting his superiors.

In 2000, Bennett moved to Manhattan's Upper East Side to start a career as a software developer. In 1999, he co-founded Cyota, an anti-fraud software firm, and served as its CEO. Bennett was sold by RSA Security for $145 million in 2005, making him a multimillionaire. The Israeli arm of Cyota remained intact thanks to a stipulation in the agreement. As a result, 400 Israelis are employed at the company's Israeli offices in Beersheba and Herzliya.

Bennett founded Soluto, a technology firm that provides cloud-based services to personal computers and mobile devices in 2009, at a time when he and partner Lior Golan were involved in raising funds for myriad Israeli technology startup companies. Soluto had raised $20 million from investors, including venture capital funds, Proxima Ventures, Bessemer Venture Partners, Index Ventures, Michael Arrington's CrunchFund, and Eric Schmidt's Innovation Endeavors and Initial Capital. Soluto's auction, which was estimated to be $100–130 million to Asurion, the American company, was finalized in October 2013.

Bennett is expected to make $5 million from his investment in Payoneer, an American fintech firm. Hundreds of thousands of dollars were invested in the company before it went to politics. Since completing a SPAC merger with FTAC Olympus Acquisition Corp in February 2021, Payoneer is expected to list on the Nasdaq stock exchange at a $3.3 billion price.

Personal life

Gilat Bennett's wife, who is also a qualified pastry chef, is a trained pastry chef. She was secular until her husband's death, but she now observes the Sabbath and kashrut. The couple have four children and live in Ra'anana, a city 20 kilometres (12 miles) north of Tel Aviv. Yonatan Netanyahu is named after Bennett's eldest son Yonatan Netanyahu, and their youngest son David Emmanuel is named after Emmanuel Moreno, who was a comrade of Bennett's in the special forces, was named after him. Bennett is a member of Modern Orthodox Judaism.

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Political career

From 2010 to 2012, Bennett served as the director of the Yesha Council. In April 2011, together with Ayelet Shaked, he co-founded My 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 increasing Zionism among centre-right supporters, increasing dialogue between the religious and secular communities, and promoting "The Israel Stability Initiative."

Following his election to the Knesset, and before he could take his seat, Bennett had to renounce his U.S. citizenship, which he held as the son of American parents. He was appointed Minister of Economy and Minister of Religious Services in March 2013. In April 2013, he was also appointed Minister of Jerusalem and Diaspora Affairs.

After being reelected in the 2015 Knesset election, Bennett was appointed Minister of Education and retained the Diaspora Affairs portfolio in the new government. In May 2015, Netanyahu split the Ministry of Jerusalem and Diaspora Affairs, initially taking back the Jerusalem Affairs portfolio for himself. He later appointed Ze'ev Elkin to the role of Jerusalem Affairs Minister. As Minister of Education, Bennett issued an official order prohibiting school principals from inviting members of Breaking the Silence and other organizations that denounce Israel's military conduct in the West Bank.

In October 2015, Bennett resigned from the Knesset in order to allow Shuli Mualem to take his seat. His resignation took place under the Norwegian Law, which allowed ministers to resign their seats when in the cabinet but return to the Knesset if they leave the government. He returned to the Knesset on 6 December after Avi Wortzman opted to vacate his seat, having temporarily had to resign as a minister in order to do so.

Following Avigdor Lieberman's resignation as Defense Minister in November 2018, Bennett announced that he was seeking the position for himself. 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. It was then announced that Bennett's Jewish Home party would no longer be affiliated with Netanyahu's government. On 19 November, Bennett reneged on his pledge to withdraw from Netanyahu's coalition.

In December 2018, Bennett was among the Jewish Home MKs to leave the party and form the breakaway New Right party. In the April 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. In June 2019, he left the government after Netanyahu dismissed Bennett from his positions as Education and Diaspora Affairs Minister.

After the Knesset dissolved and a second election in 2019 was called for September, the New Right formed an electoral alliance with the Jewish Home and National Union-Tkuma, named the United Right which was later renamed Yamina, and was led by Ayelet Shaked. The list won seven seats in the election, and Bennett regained his Knesset seat. In November 2019, Bennett rejoined Netanyahu's government as Minister of Defense. After briefly dissolving, the Yamina alliance was reunified in January 2020 ahead of the 2020 Knesset election, with Bennett succeeding Ayelet Shaked as the new leader of the alliance. Yamina won six seats in that election.

In May 2020, with negotiations to form a new government between Netanyahu and Benny Gantz, leader of the centrist Blue and White alliance, Yamina announced that it would go into the opposition, ending Bennett's tenure as Defense Minister. The day before, Rafi Peretz, the leader of The Jewish Home, had split from the alliance, and would be named as the Minister of Jerusalem in the thirty-fifth government of Israel. 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. Tkuma, which rebranded as the Religious Zionist Party on 7 January 2021, split from Yamina on 20 January. In spite of this, Yamina won seven seats in the 2021 Knesset election in March.

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