By : Sabatini Chatterjee
On June 13, 2021 the unicameral legislature of Israel also known as Knesset approved Naftali Bennett as the new Prime Minister of Israel. He will replace Benjamin Netanyahu (Bibi) as because numerous charges of fraud were levelled against him wherein, he failed to obtain majority in general election during March, 2021.
Naftali Bennett, is a 49-year-old Israeli politician with American parents and is also a former tech entrepreneur. Initially, Bennett worked for Netanyahu as a “senior-aide”from 2006 to 2008. In due course, he left Netanyahu’s Likud party, later he affiliated with the rightwing national religious Jewish Home party, and entered Knesset as its representative in 2013.
Few observers and newspapers in Israel have characterized him as “ultra-nationalist” for his views and ideologies. He is known for being a strong advocate of the Jewish nation state, and for asserting on Jewish historical and religious claims to the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights, territory near the Israel-Syria border that Israel has occupied since the 1967 war. Thus, it is apparent that Bennett is a long-standing advocate of rights of Jewish settlers in the West Bank. Nevertheless, he has never promoted Israeli claims on Gaza.
Furthermore, Bennett has taken a hard stance towards Palestinian militants, and he has recommended the award of death penalty for them. In May, 2021 Bennett accused Hamas of the murder of civilians in Gaza, who were killed in Israeli air-strikes in response to Hamas rocket fire from Gaza. However, it was due to Israel’s Iron Dome defence system they were able to mitigate such catastrophic disaster.
In conclusion, it can be said that Bennett’s emergence as Prime Minister of Israel would most likely cause a setback for Palestinians who hope for dialogs for peace and, at some point, an autonomous state (as perceived in UNs two-state-solution). The author works as a Research Assistant at the Cultural Research Institute, Kolkata under Backward Class Welfare Department, Government of West Bengal.