Naftali Bennett Biography, Age, Career, Religion, Party, Quotes, Net Worth

Naftali Bennett is a famous Politician. He was born on March 25, 1972 and his birthplace is Israel. Naftali is also well known as, Beginning in 2013, this high-ranking member of The Jewish Home political party served as Israel’s Minister of Economy and Minister of Religious Services

Who is Naftali Bennett?

Full Name	Naftali Bennett
Occupation	Politician
Age	49
Date of Birth	March 25, 1972
Place of Birth	Israel
Star Sign	Aries
Country	Israel
Gender	Male

Naftali Bennett Biography

Naftali Bennett (born 25 March 1972) is an Israeli politician serving as the 13th and current prime minister of Israel since 13 June 2021. He served as minister of Diaspora Affairs from 2013 to 2019, as minister of education from 2015 to 2019 and as minister of Defense from 2019 to 2020. He has led the New Right party since 2018, having previously led The Jewish Home party between 2012 and 2018.

Naftali Bennett Age

Naftali Bennett was born on March 25, 1972 in Haifa, Israel. He is the son of Americans who immigrated from California to Israel in 1967.

Naftali Bennett Background

Born and raised in Haifa, the son of immigrants from the United States, Bennett served in the Sayeret Matkal and Maglan special forces units of the Israel Defense Forces, commanding many combat operations, and subsequently became a software entrepreneur. In 1999, he co-founded and co-owned the US company Cyota, operating in the anti-fraud space, focused on online banking fraud, e-commerce fraud, and phishing. The company was sold in 2005 for $145 million. He has also served as CEO of Soluto, an Israeli cloud computing service, sold in 2013 for a reported $100–130 million.

He entered politics in 2006, serving as Chief of Staff for Benjamin Netanyahu until 2008. In 2011, together with Ayelet Shaked, he co-founded the My Israel extra-parliamentary movement. In 2012, Bennett was elected as the party leader of The Jewish Home. In the 2013 Knesset elections, the first contested by The Jewish Home under Bennett’s leadership, the party won 12 seats out of 120. He served under Prime Minister Netanyahu as Minister of Economy and Religious Services from 2013 to 2015 and as Minister of Education from 2015 to 2019. In December 2018, Bennett defected from The Jewish Home to form the New Right.

On 2 June 2021, Bennett agreed to a rotation government with Yair Lapid, whereby Bennett would serve as Israel’s prime minister until 2023, after which Lapid would assume the role until 2025. Bennett was sworn in on 13 June 2021. He is the second prime minister of Israel (after Netanyahu) who was born after the establishment of the Israeli state.

Naftali Bennett Personal Life

Bennett’s wife, Gilat, is a professional pastry chef. She was secular, but now observes the Jewish Sabbath and religious Jewish kosher laws regarding food. The couple have four children, and live in Ra’anana, a city 20 kilometres (12 mi) north of Tel Aviv. Like his brothers, Bennett adheres to Modern Orthodox Judaism.

Naftali Bennett Career

After moving on from software entrepreneurship, Bennett returned to Israel and embarked on a career in politics. After taking part in the 2006 Lebanon War, Bennett joined the Leader of the Opposition, Benjamin Netanyahu, and served as his Chief of Staff from 2006 to 2008. He led a team that developed Netanyahu’s educational reform plan. He also ran Netanyahu’s primary campaign to lead the Likud party in August 2007. On 31 January 2010 Bennett was appointed director-general of the Yesha Council and he led the struggle against the settlement freeze in 2010. He served in this position until January 2012.

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”, i.e., “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”. Subsequently, Bennett resigned from the Likud and joined The Jewish Home, while announcing his candidacy for the party leadership. In the internal elections on 6 November 2012, he won 67% of the vote, and was elected head of The Jewish Home. In the 2013 legislative elections, Bennett led the party to win 12 seats in the 19th Knesset.

Following his election to the Knesset, Bennett had to renounce his U.S. citizenship, which he held as the son of American parents, before he could take his seat. He was appointed Minister of the 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 elections, Bennett was appointed Minister of Education and retained the Diaspora Affairs portfolio in the new government. In 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. Under Bennett’s supervision, the Ministry of Education changed the school curricula to increase the number of visits to heritage sites 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 2015 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, but 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 elections, 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, Netanyahu dismissed Bennett from the government. After the Knesset dissolved and a second election 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. After briefly dissolving, the party was reunified in January 2020 ahead of the 2020 Israeli Knesset election, with Bennett as the party’s new leader. The party won six seats in that election.

In May 2020, with negotiations to form a new government between Netanyahu and Benny Gantz, Yamina announced that it would go into the opposition. The day before, Rafi Peretz, the leader of The Jewish Home, had split from the party, and would be named as the Minister of Jerusalem in the thirty-fifth government of Israel. On 17 May 2020, Bennett met with Gantz, who also succeeded him as Defence 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 election in March. On 9 May 2021, it was reported that Bennett and Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid had made major headway in coalition talks for forming a new Israeli government. On 30 May, Bennett announced that he would serve as prime minister in a potential unity government until September 2023, at which point Lapid would take over.

Bennett’s positions have been described as “ultra-nationalist,” and Bennett describes himself as “more right wing” than Netanyahu. He opposes the creation of a Palestinian state. He supports cutting taxes.

Naftali Bennett Quotes

The fact that the entire world says something does not mean it is correct
– Naftali Bennett

There won’t be a Palestinian state within Israel
– Naftali Bennett

if four Gaza kids playing soccer were killed Wednesday, as Hamas claims, the terror group is at fault.
– Naftali Bennett

We will never agree to give up Jerusalem, a united city under Israeli sovereignty, and only Israeli. We will not accept a terrorist Palestinian state, we will not accept an agreement based on the 67 lines.
– Naftali Bennett

I will do everything in my power to prevent a Palestinian state
– Naftali Bennett

Jerusalem has been our capital for 3,000 years and it’s going to be our capital for eternity
– Naftali Bennett

Jerusalem has been our capital for 3,000 years. Beit El and Hebron have been our land for 3,600-3,700 years. Any Jew or Christian or Muslim can open a Bible and read it. You have it there.
– Naftali Bennett

If I get an order to evacuate a Jew from his home, to expel him, me, personally, my conscience would not let me do it. I’ll ask my commander to excuse me, but I won’t publicly call on others to refuse an order. I personally can’t …
– Naftali Bennett

If there is no sovereignty – There is no Zionism!
– Naftali Bennett

If worse comes to worst, I say clearly — a soldier must follow military orders.
– Naftali Bennett

My positions are very clear: I never hide the fact that I categorically oppose a Palestinian state inside our country
– Naftali Bennett

People are fed up with the various camps, they want to unite.
– Naftali Bennett

The idea of Jewish settlements under Palestinian sovereignty, as was suggested by someone in the Prime Minister’s office, is very dangerous and reflects an irrationality of values.
– Naftali Bennett

We are moving from Iron Dome to an iron fist.
– Naftali Bennett

Naftali Bennett Net Worth

Naftali Bennett is an Israeli businessman and politician who has a net worth of $10 million. According to his personal financial disclosure, Naftali’s personal net worth in 2019 was $9-10 million. On June 2, 2021 Bennett signed a coalition agreement to succeed Benjamin Netanyahu as Israel’s Prime Minister. He will serve until 2023.

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