Naftali Bennet, Israel's New PM Who Is Tougher On Palestine Than Netanyahu

JAKARTA - Sunday, June 13 local time, the Israeli parliament agreed to form a new government. Naftali Bennett was appointed as Prime Minister (PM) replacing Benjamin Netanyahu. Many predict this will be more serious for Palestine. Naftali Bennet's hatred of Palestine is well known.

Bennet's appointment marks the end of Netanyahu's 12-year rule. The far-right politician was appointed to lead a "government of change." This agreement was reached with the results of the vote slightly adrift, 60-59. Bennett will lead an unprecedented coalition of parties.

As part of the deal for power, Bennett will lead the new government for two years, September 2023 to be exact. After that Bennet will hand over the prime minister's seat to Yair Lapid, the centrist leader of Yesh Atid. AFP reported, Netanyahu himself walked over to Bennett and shook his hand after the vote.

However, during a parliamentary debate session known as the Knesset, Netanyahu said, "We will be back." Netanyahu himself will remain head of the far-right Likud party and lead the ranks of the opposition. President of the United States (US) Joe Biden has also congratulated. Biden looks forward to working with Bennett soon.

Quoted from various sources, Naftali Bennet actually has a close relationship with Benjamin Netanyahu. The 49-year-old man was even known as Netanyahu's 'student'. Bennett was the former PM's chief of staff from 2006 to 2008, before their relationship broke.

Bennett left Netanyahu's Likud party. After that Bennett joined the far-right Jewish House party. Together with the religious party, Bennett won success in the 2013 election and became a member of parliament. From there, Bennett held the positions of minister of economy and minister of education in each coalition government.

Bennett was only removed from these prestigious positions in 2019. That year his New Right alliance failed to win a seat in the election. Eleven months later Bennett returned to parliament as Chair of the Yamina Party. Together with his new party, Bennett explores the valley of Israeli politics.

His character produces. Bennett, who had long harbored ambitions to become prime minister, succeeded in realizing his dream even though the Yamina Party only had seven seats in parliament. Bennet's character resonates through the military service and the business world that he is involved in. Bennet was a member of the Israeli Army special forces.

Retired from the military, Bennett went into business. He creates and sells hi-tech companies. From here, Bennett got a huge fortune to make himself a billionaire. Bennet's political career began from that point. In politics, Bennett is often called an ultra-nationalist. Even Bennet claims to be more right than Netanyahu.

Bennet is also known to be more outspoken in his opposition to Palestine. Bennett once said: There has never been a Palestinian state.

This was revealed by Bennet when responding to the counter stance against the Israeli occupation of the West Bank. According to Bennett, Israel has never occupied the West Bank because Palestine never even existed. Bennet's statement matched his actions. Bennett is known as a figure who aggressively defends Israel as a Jewish nation.

"When you're still swinging in the trees, we already have the state of Israel here," said Bennett.

Although he briefly commented that Israel had no claim to Gaza in the 2005 troop withdrawal, Bennett is known to strongly adhere to Jewish historical and religious claims to the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and even the Golan Heights in Syria. These areas are areas occupied by Israel since the 1967 Arab War.

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Bennet is known as a figure who actively advocates for Jewish settlement rights in the West Bank. Bennett was Chair of the Yesha Council, a group of political representatives for Jewish settlers.

For Bennett, the issue of Jewish settlements is the most important issue. Bennet even showed his distrust of the former PM several times. Bennet, who is of American descent, is an astute figure in media and propaganda affairs. He often appears on foreign television networks to defend Israel's actions.

In another statement, Bennett also said that the Palestinian conflict cannot be resolved but must be perpetuated. Bennett strongly rejects the "two-state solution" or the idea of establishing an Israeli-Palestinian state side by side. "As long as I have power and control, I will not give up a centimeter of Israeli land. Period," Bennett.

More than that, Bennet is also hard on the existence of resistance groups in Palestine. Bennett, in 2013 called these groups terrorists. He even said the group "should have been killed. Not released." This was the most controversial stance, considering that Israel does not apply the death penalty.

The only death penalty ever applied in Israel was when it executed Adolf Eichmann. At that time, 1961, Eichmann who was the designer of the Holocaust was convicted. He was hanged the following year.

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Back to Bennett. There is no peace for him. He even rejected a ceasefire with Hamas leaders in Gaza. This situation escalated the two-state dispute in 2018. Bennett also accused Hamas of killing dozens of Palestinians themselves instead of being killed by Israeli airstrikes in the May 2021 conflict.

In 2014, Bennet also shocked the media by appearing in a parody video. The video contains a message of ridicule for Israelis who often apologize. Bennett was against that kind of thing. What came out of his mouth, consistently, was pride as a Jew and their independence as a nation.

In the video, Bennett, who disguised himself as a hipster, repeatedly apologized for one thing. The video closes with Bennet revealing his disguise while conveying a message for the Israelites to stop apologizing.

*Read other information about ISRAEL-PALESTINE or read other interesting articles from Ahmad Fauzi Iyabu and Yudhistira Mahabharata.