Jerusalem: In a seismic shift in Israel’s political state of affairs, Naftali Bennett, who has partnered with centrist and left-wing events to type eight celebration coalition outsed the longest-serving Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to sworn in on Sunday as Israel’s new prime minister.
Netanyahu, 71, who remained on the helm for nearly 12 years at a stretch, is well-liked as “King Bibi” by his right-wing supporters and condemned because the “crime minister” by his critics. Netanyahu has been embroiled in corruption expenses and preventing authorized trial which he dismisses as a conspiracy, has held a dominant place in Israeli politics who served a earlier three-year time period within the Nineties.
ALSO READ: G7 Summit: PM Modi Seeks Help For TRIPS Waiver At WTO; Stresses On Worldwide Photo voltaic Alliance
Who’s Naftali Bennett, the brand new Prime Minister?
Bennett, a former chief of Yesha, the principle settler motion within the West Financial institution, the chief made annexation of elements of the territory captured by Israel in a 1967 battle as the foremost ballot plank. Often known as right-wing Jewish nationalist and former tech millionaire, a spiritual Jew who raked in cash within the principally secular hi-tech sector, and in addition a former ally of Benjamin Netanyahu.
Born to American dad and mom who have been settled in Haifa, Bennett later stored juggling along with his household between North America and Israel, He additionally joined army service besies attending regulation college, and labored within the non-public sector.
Bennett has 4 youngsters, and identified to be a contemporary Orthodox Jew recurrently doning a kippa, the skullcap worn by observant Jews. The chief lives within the upscale Tel Aviv suburb of Raanana, as a substitute of the settlements he champions.
Bennett’s ultranationalist Yamina celebration managed to win solely seven seats within the 120-member Knesset in March elections, the fourth such vote in two years.
The brand new Prime Minister is against Palestinian independence and strongly helps Jewish settlements within the occupied West Financial institution and East Jerusalem, which stays one of many main confrontations within the area.
Bennett has strongly opposed Netanyahu’s resolution to gradual settlement development beneath stress from President Barack Obama, who tried and did not revive the peace course of early in his first time period.
He has served within the elite Sayeret Matkal commando unit and later went to regulation college at Hebrew College. In 1999, Bennett co-founded Cyota, an anti-fraud software program firm that was bought in 2005 to US-based RSA Safety for $145 million.
In his political profession, he was the chief of the West Financial institution settler’s council, Yesha for a short time earlier than becoming a member of the Knesset in 2013. Later he grew to become a cupboard minister of diaspora affairs, schooling, and protection in numerous Netanyahu-led governments.
The 49-year-old father of 4 has an analogous method to Netanyahu so far as the Center East battle is worried, however the two have had tense relations through the years.
Bennett served as Netanyahu’s chief of employees for 2 years, however drifted away later because of Netanyahu’s spouse, because the media claimed she wielded nice affect over her husband’s interior circle.