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<\/a>\n\t\tTogether party leader and former prime minister Naftali Bennett in an interview at his party HQ on June 11, 2026 (Yitzhak Ledee \/ Times of Israel)<\/p>\n
For a politician who made his name in the leadership of the settlement movement and became Israel\u2019s first kippah-wearing prime minister, the absence of traditional religious-Zionist symbols is striking. There are no portraits of prominent rabbis, no settlement movement imagery, no obvious visual markers of the ideological world from which he emerged. Instead, the office projects the language of mainstream Israeli statehood: the first prime minister, the foundational ideologue, the Declaration of Independence, civic equality, liberal democracy and national institutions.<\/p>\n
The knitted kippah remains on Bennett\u2019s head. But as he sits down for the interview, he does not present himself primarily as a religious politician. The room around him sends a clear message: Bennett has completed his journey to the Israeli political mainstream, and he wants voters to notice.<\/p>\n
In our conversation, Bennett, who served as prime minister in 2021-2022 after unseating Netanyahu, argued that the current premier\u2019s dependence on far-right coalition partners Itamar Ben Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich has left him unable to act in Israel\u2019s core national interests. Ben Gvir and Smotrich, he said, \u201cbring huge international damage with statements and actions that don\u2019t really promote any interest; it\u2019s just for small politics.\u201d<\/p>\n
On Israel\u2019s relationship with Donald Trump, Bennett praised the US president\u2019s record on Israel, citing his recognition of Jerusalem as Israel\u2019s capital, moving the US embassy there, recognizing Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights, the killing of Iran\u2019s al-Quds chief Qassem Soleimani and the damage inflicted on Iran. But, he stressed, an Israeli prime minister must be able, when necessary, to \u201cstand up and ensure the security of his people at all costs.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t Bennett said he believed he could forge a strong working relationship with Trump because of their shared background outside career politics. \u201cHe was a businessman, not a career politician, same as me,\u201d Bennett said. \u201cHis worldview is, let\u2019s get stuff done. Let\u2019s look at results, not process. And that\u2019s precisely my view.\u201d<\/p>\n Torah study bill \u2018a desecration of God\u2019s name\u2019<\/p>\n Bennett also sharply criticized the government\u2019s handling of the ultra-Orthodox draft crisis, calling Israel\u2019s decades-long approach to Haredi autonomy a case of \u201cslow-motion national suicide.\u201d He said generations of politicians had allowed \u201can independent Haredi state to be formed within Israel,\u201d in which many of the Haredi community\u2019s children are not taught English, math, civics, democracy or Zionism.<\/p>\n \u201cI love my Haredi brothers and sisters, but enough is enough,\u201d he said. Bennett said his plan would not include stripping voting rights, jailing draft dodgers or bringing \u201ctanks into Bnei Brak,\u201d but would instead end state funding for schools that refuse to teach the core curriculum, and cancel tax breaks, daycare subsidies and housing benefits for those who don\u2019t serve in the military or work.<\/p>\n \t He was especially scathing about current coalition efforts to codify Torah study as a national priority in a Basic Law, saying the move was not about honoring Torah but about renewing the flow of state funds to those who refuse to serve or work. \u201cThis bill has one goal: to renew the flow of billions of shekels a year to people who deliberately decide not to serve, not to work,\u201d Bennett said. \u201cIt uses the Torah as a tool for money.\u201d<\/p>\n Asked about women in combat, Bennett said he supports women serving in the military and in combat roles wherever the IDF determines it is appropriate. Mentioning Captain Or Moses z\u201dl, the deputy company commander at the Zikim training base who was killed on October 7 while trying to rescue a wounded soldier, Bennett said: \u201cNo one should tell me that women cannot fight.\u201d<\/p>\n On settler violence, Bennett, a former head of the Settlers Council, stressed that the vast majority of Israelis living in Judea and Samaria are law-abiding citizens who serve in the army and have suffered years of terror attacks. But he condemned violence against innocent Palestinians and against soldiers \u201cin the strongest possible terms.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe did not return to the State of Israel, to the Land of Israel, after thousands of years to have militias and vigilantes,\u201d he said. There is no place for that. There must be law and order everywhere in Israel \u2014 whether it\u2019s the Negev or Bnei Brak or the Galilee or Judea and Samaria. And I will restore law and order in Israel.\u201d<\/p>\n Bennett said he sees himself, if returned to office, as responsible not only for Israeli citizens but for Jews worldwide, at a time of surging antisemitism and deepening alienation from Israel. He accused the current government of repeatedly \u201cshooting ourselves in the foot,\u201d including through attacks on the Reform movement, the largest Jewish denomination in America.<\/p>\n \u201cMy vision for Israel is an exemplary and secure state for the Jewish people in the Land of Israel,\u201d Bennett said. \u201cLet\u2019s be exemplary. Let\u2019s shine among the nations.\u201d<\/p>\n \t The following is the full transcript of our interview, with the questions and answers lightly edited for clarity.<\/p>\n The Times of Israel: Let\u2019s start with the situation with Iran. Israel needs the United States to be on board [in tackling the Iranian threat], but joining together with Trump has a lot of problematic aspects. Netanyahu is unable to reject or object to anything that Trump says. If you were a prime minister, what would you do differently?<\/p>\n Naftali Bennett: Well, first of all, I want to say that President Trump has truly been amazing for the State of Israel. It started in his previous term, and I don\u2019t forget that. I don\u2019t look only at the past week; I look at the whole track record \u2014 of recognizing Jerusalem [as Israel\u2019s capital], moving the embassy to Jerusalem, recognizing the Golan Heights [as sovereign Israeli territory], killing [Iran\u2019s IRGC al-Quds chief] Soleimani, and of course the massive damage that\u2019s been done to Iran.<\/p>\n For an Israeli prime minister, ultimately, there are moments where he has to stand up and ensure the security of his people at all costs, and I\u2019m sure President Trump respects that. Just as he understands that he would do anything to secure the lives of Americans, so we have to secure the lives of Israelis.<\/p>\n On a broader scope, I think that I would be able to forge a very good relationship with President Trump, because of very similar backgrounds. He was a businessman, not a career politician, same as me.<\/p>\n I was not a career politician. I first entered business, got things done. And his worldview is: Let\u2019s get stuff done, let\u2019s look at results, not process, and that\u2019s precisely my view. Regionally, I also believe that business and economy should be the main vector of diplomacy. And again, coming from a business standpoint, I would seek, very aggressively and energetically, regional deals. And I would have a much more positive government and cabinet that would allow us to achieve it.<\/p>\n Because right now, when you have people like [far-right Otzma Yehudit party leader and National Security Minister Itamar] Ben Gvir, who create international crises every three days, and Netanyahu is incapable of even calling them to order, that dramatically hinders the ability to make any progress.<\/p>\n \t But if Trump is on the phone with you, and he says, \u2018Turn your airplanes back now,\u2019 could you have done something differently than Netanyahu has been doing?<\/p>\n The movie doesn\u2019t start there. You\u2019re presenting a specific scene, but the movie begins way earlier.<\/p>\n If the whole picture is one where you have a pragmatic government, that does not cause massive damage to Israel\u2019s international standing for nothing, a business-oriented, technology-oriented, normalization-oriented, execution-oriented government, then, to begin with, American public opinion would be different, the pressures on Trump would be different, the whole thing would be different.<\/p>\n So I refuse to be placed into a scene [like you\u2019ve described] because I will strive to engineer a whole different environment.<\/p>\n Netanyahu understands what you and I understand. He understands that Ben Gvir [and fellow far-right Religious Zionism party leader and Finance Minister] Smotrich bring huge international damage with statements and actions that don\u2019t really promote any interest; it\u2019s just for small politics.<\/p>\n But Netanyahu has lost his capability to win \u2014 in many areas, not only there.<\/p>\n For example, we\u2019re fighting what they like to call a seven-front war. We don\u2019t have enough soldiers, but Netanyahu is incapable of conscripting the 20,000 missing Haredi soldiers. The Zionist public is already at full-stretch: 90% of secular and religious Zionists are conscripted. The ultra-Orthodox are close to zero.<\/p>\n We are capturing a position and leaving it, after fighting and bleeding to capture it, and then having to recapture it three times, because we don\u2019t have enough soldiers [to deploy permanently to hold it]. Netanyahu is incapable of bringing the necessary soldiers because the Haredim control him.<\/p>\n So everything would look different with a government under my leadership \u2014 a good government, where I\u2019m very strong on security and our national interests. I\u2019ve not changed my opinions. But I don\u2019t have a group of ministers who are acting in such foolish and harmful ways.<\/p>\n \t Let\u2019s put you into another scene, which may well happen. The US may sign a deal with Iran any day now, according to Trump. The deal may include a 15-year freeze on enriching uranium, the release of some money to Iran, no provisions to deal with their ballistic missiles, and no provisions regarding their terrorist proxies. Something like this might be signed during the summer and then, in October, you might become prime minister and inherit this agreement. You recently said this is the beginning of the \u201ctrickling\u201d of Iranian attacks on Israel. But as a prime minister you would not be able to come out against a sitting US president, just as Netanyahu is unable to come out against him.<\/p>\n Well, I\u2019ll share with you my strategy and how I would deal with whatever outcome we\u2019ll have.<\/p>\n Since 2017, I\u2019ve been promoting in the security cabinet, and later on as defense minister, and later on as prime minister, my thesis, which I call the \u201cOctopus Doctrine\u201d. This dates from way before people realized that Iran is the epicenter of most of the problems in the Middle East and of Israel, and that we, over the past 20 years, have been very foolish to keep on focusing on the arms of the octopus, i.e., Hezbollah, Hamas, instead of the head of the octopus. As prime minister, I began the shift of taking many actions against the head of the octopus, not only vis-a-vis nuclear [efforts by Iran], but all aspects.<\/p>\n I view the relationship between Israel and Iran as similar to what we had seen between the United States and the Soviet Union after World War Two, all the way till 1989: We have a vibrant democracy versus a corrupt, old, incompetent, disconnected regime with a good [civilian] nation.<\/p>\n I learned as prime minister that Iran\u2019s regime will ultimately collapse, but I don\u2019t know when. Continuing the analogy, we might be in 1987 right now [shortly before the disintegration of the Soviet Union], but it also might be 1960.<\/p>\n \t So here\u2019s my strategy: We need to embark on a multi-year, long-term strategy of accelerating the collapse of the regime, not only through kinetic action, while ensuring they don\u2019t achieve a nuclear weapon. With the Mossad and other groups, I began about 30 different actions \u2014 not only bombing. I\u2019m talking about economic actions, I\u2019m talking about cyber, about overt and covert actions.<\/p>\n For example, one of the things that I had pushed for that, unfortunately, the next government did not do, was to smuggle into Iran tens of thousands of Starlink receivers, so the next time there\u2019s a local uprising, the regime can\u2019t turn off the internet. This wasn\u2019t done.<\/p>\n I believe that if we embark on a serious mission of accelerating the collapse of this horrible regime, which will collapse, we can advance that collapse. At the same time, we have to ensure they don\u2019t achieve nuclear weapons. All my actions will derive from this simple strategy \u2014 simple to explain, but sophisticated to execute.<\/p>\n We don\u2019t know the specifics of the deal that\u2019s taking shape, but there\u2019s clearly been a massive divergence of interests now, because Trump just has to get the Strait of Hormuz open, and you see him moving [to softer positions] on enrichment and the stockpile. You might inherit an arrangement where you\u2019re really concerned that they\u2019re very close, that they have a path to the bomb. You could be in a very difficult situation.<\/p>\n It won\u2019t be the first time I, as prime minister, inherit lousy situations. I think the whole approach of Netanyahu, of this very protracted war, is the wrong approach.<\/p>\n It\u2019s never been Israel\u2019s doctrine to have an ongoing war, which exhausts Israeli society, exhausts the reservists, exhausts the economy, and hurts our international standing dramatically. I fundamentally disagree with this whole approach. I would run things fundamentally differently, with much faster, higher-intensity wars, but get them done. I would also say that a leader has a broad set of tools. War is one of those tools. The army is one of the tools. But you have to use many tools: the economic tool, technology tool, diplomacy tool, public opinion tool.<\/p>\n Do you know that we don\u2019t have a public diplomacy directorate? I, as prime minister, built one, and I appointed one of Israel\u2019s very talented people, Elad Tene, who now runs Yedioth Ahronoth, and it was good, it was quick, it was nimble, it was smart, and they dismantled it. It\u2019s like a carpenter trying to build a cupboard, but all he has is a hammer. You need other tools, and this singularly focused tool of just using kinetic force is a mistake. I\u2019ve fought and killed many Hezbollah terrorists in my life. Definitely after October 7, we needed to act. But his approach of sort of just stretching it out forever is a very wrongheaded approach.<\/p>\n How do you intend to achieve normalization with Saudi Arabia if you become prime minister? And how can you do that without some progress on the Palestinian track?<\/p>\n I intend to advance Israel\u2019s integration into the region by building a regional security and economic architecture, alongside initiatives that foster greater interfaith understanding and cooperation. There are enormous opportunities for Israel in turning eastward. The path to the East runs through the Arabian Peninsula.<\/p>\n As for the Palestinians, we will safeguard Israel\u2019s security while also preserving the dignity and livelihoods of the Palestinian people. They are not going anywhere, and neither are we. We should be smart enough to take steps that improve their daily lives without compromising the security of Israeli citizens in any way. I did that as prime minister, and we can do it again.<\/p>\n Regarding October the seventh: You would have prevented it, definitively? Can you tell us how? And part two, how would you have fought in Gaza afterwards more effectively? You don\u2019t want the Palestinian Authority in Gaza either. What alternative is there? Who\u2019s going to come in there and risk lives against a Hamas that won\u2019t disarm?<\/p>\n Look, the fact is it happened under Netanyahu\u2019s watch. In history, you can never say definitively what would happen on the path not taken. I can tell you what I did, and what I did differently from Netanyahu.<\/p>\n \t Netanyahu had a policy of containment with Hamas, with Hezbollah. My policy was zero containment. When I came in, I hit Hamas after every single terror balloon, every rocket. We know now that Yahya Sanwar despised me and said he can\u2019t read me, and doesn\u2019t know how to deal with me. With Netanyahu, he knew how to deal. And we now know they had correspondence, the famous correspondence [a reference to a 2018 message<\/a> from the Hamas terror chief to Netanyahu].<\/p>\n I didn\u2019t let Hamas get even near the fence; they let Hamas live on the fence for many months. I didn\u2019t let Hezbollah get near the fence; they let Hezbollah build tents within Israeli territory. And when Hezbollah even conducted a terror attack at Megiddo Junction, the Israeli government didn\u2019t respond.<\/p>\n \t I was very diligent on every little piece of information. I would go down to the field, talk to people, talk to officers, talk to the citizens. With Netanyahu, we now know that all the heads of the security organizations came and said, privately and later publicly, we are heading toward a big, big disaster. What they didn\u2019t have was the specific intelligence that it would come the way it did, but there were many indications. And when the IDF chief of staff wants to talk to me, and he says this is a national disaster, he\u2019d be in my room within two minutes. And within an hour I\u2019d get every single intelligence officer from Mossad, the Shin Bet, down to captains; I\u2019d be talking to them. That\u2019s my style \u2014 of zooming in, and not just saying, \u2018Everything\u2019s okay,\u2019 or something for the record.<\/p>\n We also know that in 2023, prior to October 7, the judicial reform, and what happened in Israel, and the way the government conducted itself \u2014 essentially telling half of Israel: We despise you; if you\u2019re liberal, if you didn\u2019t vote for me, we think you\u2019re walking around with Rolex watches, and we\u2019re going to run you over. These are quotes of ministers in the government. You know, we\u2019re going to take revenge on you.<\/p>\n \t We know now that it dramatically weakened Israel\u2019s immune system. And from week to week Israel became weaker and weaker. And we know that our enemies followed that, and we know our enemies waited for the weakest moment, and, bam, attacked us.<\/p>\n So, would it happen under my leadership? I think the chances are way lower, dramatically lower, because of everything I said. I would not divide Israel. I united Israel. I was diligent. And I had a very much tougher stance on our enemies than Netanyahu.<\/p>\n \t Regarding the second part of the question, how do you deal with Gaza quickly?<\/p>\n I can go into tactics. I had suggested early on a differential siege. It seemed at the time that it would take longer, but would actually have been much easier. We would isolate areas, apply a full siege on those areas, and let the citizens out and trap the terrorists. I even made this public, I believe, on October 27 of 2023. I thought it would be much smarter. Siege is a tool that\u2019s been used for thousands of years very effectively. I would do it in a smart way: You define half of Gaza as enemy territory, you let the citizens out, but you have a screening process, and then you dry him up and essentially smoke him out of the tunnels.<\/p>\n This was not adopted, which is legitimate. A different approach was adopted. I believe bloodier, but we\u2019ll never know.<\/p>\n This is not my main point. My main point is that running a country is not only the narrow military dimension, but there are many other dimensions.<\/p>\n When you have a minister who stupidly says we\u2019re going to nuke Gaza<\/a>, you pay a huge, huge international price with zero benefit, and your credit pool empties, and then by the time you actually need it for material, serious stuff, you\u2019ve run out of credit.<\/p>\n I ran a good government. We reduced debt, we moved for the first time in a generation from deficit to budgetary surplus, and reduced crime. I know how to run stuff<\/p>\n Everything would look different when you have a competent, serious government. The government I ran, I think even my biggest critics agree it was an effective government. I ran a good government. We reduced debt, we moved for the first time in a generation from deficit to budgetary surplus, and reduced crime. I know how to run stuff.<\/p>\n Essentially, what I\u2019m telling the Israeli public is that we are at an existential moment. Another four years with this government, we won\u2019t have an economy, we won\u2019t have a society. The Haredi issue will just crash us all. We won\u2019t have an international standing anywhere. And we have to act now.<\/p>\n Another four years with this government, we won\u2019t have an economy, we won\u2019t have a society. The Haredi issue will just crash us all. We won\u2019t have an international standing anywhere. We have to act now<\/p>\n I\u2019ve done something never done before, I believe, as a prime minister hoping to come back a second time. I\u2019m not the first prime minister to come back: Ben-Gurion left and came back, Rabin, Netanyahu, they all come back more politically astute, which I will also. But I spent the past year and a half preparing plans for Israel: How to fix Israel\u2019s core issues, which are the Haredi issue, the Bedouin issue, law and order, the huge crime and chaos issue, the cost of living, the cost of housing and security, education, health. I\u2019ve got all the plans ready. This time, the first 100 days of this government will be 100 days that change history.<\/p>\n \t You have all the plans; the big question is, will you have a coalition to go with them? You probably expected that I would ask about [Ra\u2019am party leader] Mansour Abbas [a key partner in the 2021-22 Bennett-Lapid coalition], because he says, I\u2019m willing to draft people to national service, I believe in the Jewish and democratic character of this country (even though he is a religious Muslim), I believe in the values of the Declaration of Independence. If the ultra-Orthodox would tell you, We believe in Zionism, we are agreeing to the Jewish and democratic character of Israel, we are agreeing to draft [in the IDF], you would love to sit with them [in your coalition]. But when he says them, because he is a Muslim, he is being struck out by you and your colleagues [as a potential coalition partner].<\/p>\n I don\u2019t decide to bring or not bring people [into my coalition] based on their color or race. I set principles, and the principles are you have to be Zionist, so support Israel as a Jewish and democratic state, support the draft for all, support establishing a constitution based on the Declaration of Independence, support a state commission of inquiry into October 7. And right now Mansour does not meet some of those elements.<\/p>\n He meets them, and he is also not going to sit with Balad [in a Joint List of Arab parties].<\/p>\n Look, I will not talk about people, I will talk about the principles. Any party that supports what I just said, supporting Israel as the home of the Jewish people in a democratic state, all those principles, that\u2019s what will define it.<\/p>\n So, if he says all of those things, clearly, you\u2019re going to sit with him?<\/p>\n I talk about all the principles I stated. Currently, he does not, but anyone who supports what I just said. As I said, it\u2019s not about race. If there\u2019s an Arab who\u2019s Zionist and supports going to the army, that\u2019s something else. I\u2019m talking about principles, not people.<\/p>\n \t Do you think that people who did not draft to the military as legally required should be stripped of their voting rights and\/or their right to be elected?<\/p>\n I think we have to be realistic, and I have a very clear plan, which I developed over the past year and a half. It does not include that component, because it\u2019s unnecessary.<\/p>\n I\u2019ll tell you what it does include. The issue of the Haredim is way, way beyond the draft. I would almost say that the main issue is much broader, much bigger than that.<\/p>\n We, generations of politicians, for the past 49 years, have allowed an independent Haredi state to be formed within Israel, a state within a state. In this state, right now, as we speak, 30% of Jewish kids are not being taught English and math at school. They are being taught [it\u2019s better to] die than go to the army. They are being educated against Zionism, against democracy, against our core values. The [refusal to] draft is just a result of that.<\/p>\n We are in a slow-motion national suicide. And I just want to give you another data point. When my kid, David, will be my age, almost 50% of 18-year-old kids will be Haredi.<\/p>\n He\u2019s 15 now?<\/p>\n He\u2019s 14.<\/p>\n It\u2019s sort of like an iceberg, because you know, it doesn\u2019t happen in a moment. And now 14% of Israelis are Haredi.<\/p>\n I love my Haredi brothers and sisters, but enough is enough. I want to give you another data point. Every Zionist family, meaning Jewish, non-Haredi family, pays on average NIS 6,000 more to the government than it gets back in services every month. Every Haredi family gets NIS 4,000 more than it pays. And the camel\u2019s back is about to break. Now is the moment.<\/p>\n So, this is not only about the draft, this is about saving Israel\u2019s future. This is the last moment we can act.<\/p>\n And here\u2019s my plan: It\u2019s not to put them in jail, and it\u2019s not to bring tanks into Bnai Brak, and it\u2019s not to bring policemen to force kids to learn democracy. That won\u2019t work. I don\u2019t believe in coercion.<\/p>\n I will not fund a school that does not teach all of the core curriculum\u2026 I will not give you a shekel in allowances if you don\u2019t work, don\u2019t go to the army<\/p>\n Something very simple: We will not fund an independent [Haredi] state. We, I will not fund a school that does not teach all of the core curriculum \u2014 not only math and English, which I used to think is the main thing, but it\u2019s not only that. Math, English, civics, democracy, Zionism.<\/p>\n You want to teach your kids, \u2018We\u2019ll die and we won\u2019t enlist\u2019. Fine, go find a plot of land, buy it, build a school, hire teachers, do it at your own cost. Build a private school; we will not fund it.<\/p>\n You want to not go to work your whole life. Fine, I can\u2019t force you to work. I will not give you a shekel in allowances, in reduced municipal taxes, in reduced mortgages, in daycare subsidies. Not one shekel. You don\u2019t go to the army, fine. I will not fund a shekel.<\/p>\n At the same time, what I will do, and this has never been tried, is what I call the Brooklyn Model. In Brooklyn, there are Haredim. The United States of America, to the best of my knowledge, does not give them allowances for yeshiva study, daycare subsidies; it does not offer them reduced mortgage programs, does not give them anything. So we\u2019ll bring the Brooklyn Model to Bnai Brak. And it works.<\/p>\n We have developed something so distorted, so crazy, but it\u2019s been normalized, because we live in it, and we never woke up to say, What the heck have we done here? So now\u2019s the moment.<\/p>\n \t What I will do: In each of those three paths, which are education, employment, and the service, we will have a beautiful and compelling on-ramp.<\/p>\n We\u2019re not fighting the Haredim; we\u2019re saving the Haredim. The on-ramp will be amazing. State Haredi schools where 60% of their curriculum is what I said, and 40% is Talmud study. Every school in Israel will have a 40% [range of specialty subjects such as] cyber, music, nature studies, but every kid will learn English, math, Bible studies, civics, and Zionism. By the way, Jews and Arabs alike. Everyone will learn that basis. You don\u2019t want to? You can build your private school.<\/p>\n Same with work. What we\u2019re going to have are job-training programs for these people. And in the army, a bit of out-of-the-box thinking.<\/p>\n Let me give you one thought that I\u2019m promoting, one plan: Build Haredi yeshivas along the Jordan border and the Sinai border. Every 100 kilometers, you have a yeshiva, they study eight hours, they guard the border eight hours and free up our reservists, and sleep eight hours. So we can accommodate them.<\/p>\n I\u2019m dati, I\u2019m a man of faith. I believe. I learn Torah. I love the Torah. This is not against the Torah. This is for the Torah. What they did on Wednesday, [advancing] that Basic Law<\/a> that Torah study [is equivalent to national service] is the biggest harm the Torah can ever have. We\u2019ve had the Torah for 3,300 years without a Basic Law.<\/p>\n Spell it out. Why is it foul and an assault on the Torah to claim that somebody who\u2019s studying Torah full time is making the same essential contribution to the Jewish state as a soldier in the army?<\/p>\n I don\u2019t recall a battle in the Torah where the enemy is running towards us, and we go and learn Torah, and somehow we\u2019re saved. We always fight. Our biggest heroes were fighters<\/p>\n First of all, Judaism and the Torah itself never claimed that learning Torah will save you from enemies. I\u2019m a big student of the Torah. I can tell you all about Joshua\u2019s battles, Abraham\u2019s battles, Gidon, Yiftah, King Saul, King David. I\u2019m yet to see, I don\u2019t recall, a battle in the Torah where the enemy, the Midianites or the Philistines, they\u2019re running towards us, and we go and learn Torah, and somehow we\u2019re saved.<\/p>\n We always fight. Our biggest heroes, all of those that I mentioned, were big fighters.<\/p>\n This whole talk about a society that isolates itself from the world and solely learns Torah. It\u2019s a new, distorted view of the Torah. It\u2019s nonsense, and it\u2019s a desecration of God\u2019s name<\/p>\n All our biggest heroes worked \u2013 Abraham worked, Moses worked, Rashi, Rambam. Rashi was a winery guy, Rambam was a doctor, Rabbi Yohanan was a shoemaker. They all worked. This whole talk about a society that isolates itself from the world and solely learns Torah. It\u2019s a new, distorted view of the Torah. It\u2019s nonsense, and it\u2019s a desecration of God\u2019s name.<\/p>\n All our great rabbis, including Rambam, say that using the Torah for money is the biggest desecration of God\u2019s name. The Haredim don\u2019t need a bill to set a special status for Torah. They don\u2019t care about Israel\u2019s laws. Now they\u2019re claiming it\u2019s just a symbolic bill. It\u2019s not symbolic at all. This bill has one goal: to renew the flow of billions of shekels a year to people who deliberately decide not to serve, not to work. That\u2019s all the bill is. It uses the Torah as a tool for money. That\u2019s the biggest desecration of God\u2019s name that you can have.<\/p>\n Some rabbis say if you are a man enlisted into the military to do combat, you cannot serve together with women. Recently, Smotrich said, I think at a faction meeting, \u2018If my daughter will ask me what to do, I will tell her, Do not serve in the military at all, specifically not in combat roles\u2019. You have two daughters. What would you tell your own daughters? Would you recommend them going into the military? To serve in combat roles? What do you think about women in combat? Some rabbis are saying don\u2019t serve in tanks because of women.<\/p>\n First of all, I support women serving in the military, and women serving in combat wherever the IDF determines that it\u2019s the right thing. I studied October 7 and met hundreds of soldiers and officers and civilians that fought on that day; I investigated it, and time and again I encountered remarkable female fighters who saved lives \u2014 both on October 7 and subsequently.<\/p>\n For example, Captain Or Moses<\/a> z\u201dl, the deputy company commander at the Zikim training base. She and the officers serving alongside her told the soldiers in training at the base that day: \u2018Get into the miguniot shelters. We will protect you.\u2019 They then went out to fight and killed dozens of terrorists. At one point during the battle, a soldier near Or was wounded. She shouted, \u2018I need covering fire. I\u2019m going in to get him. She ran out to rescue him and was killed during the attempt.<\/p>\n \t So no one should tell me that women cannot fight. I know our history. I know the stories of the Palmach (the elite fighting force of the Haganah pre-state militia), of Hannah Senesh, and of Sarah Aaronsohn of the NILI underground.<\/p>\n Now you have to do this sensibly \u2014 [having women in combat roles] where the IDF judges it is appropriate. My daughters are going to the army for sure.<\/p>\n You are a former head of the Settlers Council. Shabbat after Shabbat, and other days as well, people set out from settlements, and they attack innocent Palestinians. That\u2019s terrible, and the Settlers Council does not denounce it. What has become of this movement? And more broadly, Orthodox Judaism, the liberal side of it, is in such remission in Israel. Where are they? Is there a silent majority of Judaism as a religion of tolerance and love of your fellow man?<\/p>\n I want to be clear. The vast majority of the Israelis living in Judea and Samaria are normative, are good citizens. They serve in the army, they abide by the law, and they don\u2019t apply violence. That\u2019s the vast, vast majority of about 550,000 Israelis, and they throughout the years have encountered grave terrorism.<\/p>\n I condemn in the strongest terms violence against innocents, against soldiers, and the breaking of the law. We did not return to the State of Israel, to the Land of Israel, after thousands of years to have militias and vigilantes. There is no place for that. There must be law and order everywhere in Israel \u2014 whether it\u2019s the Negev or Bnai Brak or the Galilee or Judea and Samaria. And I will restore law and order in Israel.\u201d<\/p>\n I will point out that this current government has doubled the number of Israelis murdered in criminal killings, Jews and Arabs. I took this on as a personal project as prime minister. We reduced the number of murders by 20%. There were 148 murders in 2022, the first full year of my government, as a result of a special law and order cabinet that I set up, and I ran it personally. Then they brought in this clown\u2026<\/p>\n You mean Ben Gvir\u2026<\/p>\n \u2026 and he took apart the team that I put together. Within one year, in 2023, 300 Israelis were murdered in criminal killings. I\u2019m not talking about October 7; I\u2019m not talking about nationalistic killings. And it is growing year by year.<\/p>\n I was a CEO in my previous life, and it gives me a huge advantage. If one of my managers brought such horrible results. I\u2019d kick him out. But, again, Netanyahu can\u2019t. He simply can\u2019t anymore. He lost the ability to run Israel. He can\u2019t achieve anything. He has his credits from the past. I don\u2019t hate him or anything. But after 30 years since he first became prime minister, he simply can\u2019t do anything. He can\u2019t win wars. He can\u2019t tackle crime. He can\u2019t bring down prices. He can\u2019t integrate the ultra-Orthodox into Israeli society.<\/p>\n I have plans. I have the best team in Israel: I\u2019ve brought outstanding women leaders [into my party]: Keren Turner, the legendary former director-general of both the Transportation Ministry and the Finance Ministry, and Liran Avisar. In fact, women make up the majority of my team. On average, I believe they are better managers and leaders. I genuinely believe that. And I believe that together we won\u2019t just fix Israel. We can bring about a renaissance for Israel and for the region. We have the ability to change the future of the State of Israel for the better.<\/p>\n A question about antisemitism. We see recent Pew Research<\/a> saying 67% of respondents in almost 40 countries around the world have an unfavorable view of Israel. That\u2019s horrific data, and it projects in the way that Jewish communities worldwide are suffering from attacks and aggression. Men can\u2019t walk around with kippot on their heads. Swastika graffiti. Attacks on synagogues. You were diaspora affairs minister. What would you do? Practically, not just statements.<\/p>\n As a boy who grew up in the States for a couple of years, in Teaneck, New Jersey, and as someone who lived in America<\/a> for years, I did not think, ever, we would have this sort of antisemitism. Throughout the years, there were organizations dealing with antisemitism, and I was supportive, but I had barely encountered antisemitism.<\/p>\n October 7 is the big massacre, and October 8 is the big day where we saw \u2014 way before, you know, Ben Gvir, and all of that \u2014 how this huge wave of anti-Israel and antisemitism started before the war, even. It\u2019s a result of many things. One of them is a massive, state-funded [effort] \u2014 primarily by Qatar and Iran \u2014 that invested for years and years in universities and in the media to prepare for that day.<\/p>\n \t There\u2019s a real battle, a real war for the hearts and minds of the world and the public. The problem with that war is it\u2019s a one-sided war. Israel is not there. The Israeli government is not there. I\u2019m giving interviews almost every single day, on, you name it, CNN, NBC, BBC. I\u2019ve been to almost 100 campuses over the past three years. I\u2019m out there, but alone, or there are a few other individuals who try their best. Israel is not there.<\/p>\n<\/a>
\n\t\tUS President Donald Trump, right, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a special plenum session in honor of Trump at the Knesset, October 13, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel\/Flash90)<\/p>\n<\/a>
\n\t\tUltra-Orthodox men block a highway near the Ganot Junction, June 11, 2026. (Chaim Goldberg\/Flash90)<\/p>\n<\/a>
\n\t\tThe Times of israel\u2019s Editor David Horovitz and political correspondent Tal Schneider interview Together leader Naftali Bennett at his party HQ on June 11, 2026 (Yitzhak Ledee \/ Times of Israel)<\/p>\n<\/a>
\n\t\tNational Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir taunts detained flotilla activists at Ashdod Port on May 20, 2026. (Screen grab\/Ben Gvir\u2019s X account)<\/p>\n<\/a>
\n\t\tTogether party leader and former prime minister Naftali Bennett in an interview for The Times of Israel at his Together party HQ on June 11, 2026 (Yitzhak Ledee\/Times of Israel)<\/p>\n<\/a>
\n\t\tPro-government demonstrators wave Iranian and Hezbollah flags in Tehran, Iran, on June 7, 2026. (AP Photo\/Vahid Salemi)<\/p>\n<\/a>
\n\t\tPalestinians in Gaza City receive their financial aid as part of aid allocated by Qatar at a branch of the post office, November 27, 2019. (Hassan Jedi\/Flash90)<\/p>\n<\/a>
\n\t\tPrime Minister Naftali Bennett pays a visit to IDF soldiers stationed near Gaza, on August 17, 2021. (Kobi Gideon\/GPO)<\/p>\n<\/a>
\n\t\tDemonstrators protest against the judicial overhaul, in Tel Aviv, September 30, 2023. (Avshalom Sassoni\/Flash90)<\/p>\n<\/a>
\n\t\tIsrael\u2019s outgoing prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu shakes hands with his successor, incoming Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, after a special session to vote on a new government at the Knesset in Jerusalem, on June 13, 2021. (Emmanuel Dunand\/AFP)<\/p>\n<\/a>
\n\t\tOpposition Leader Yair Lapid, right, and former prime minister Naftali Bennett at a press conference announcing their joint slate named \u201cTogether\u201d ahead of upcoming elections in Herzliya, central Israel, April 26, 2026. (Chaim Goldberg\/Flash90)<\/p>\n<\/a>
\n\t\tYesh Atid\u2019s Yair Lapid (left), Yamina\u2019s Naftali Bennett (center) and Ra\u2019am\u2019s Mansour Abbas (right) agree to form a coalition, to be joined by five other parties, on June 2, 2021 (Courtesy of Ra\u2019am)<\/p>\n<\/a>
\n\t\tUltra-Orthodox yeshiva students learn at the Ateret Shlomo Yeshiva, in Rishon Lezion on June 11, 2025. (Shlomi Cohen\/Flash90)<\/p>\n<\/a>
\n\t\tCpt. Or Moses, who was killed by Hamas-led invaders on the Zikim base on October 7, 2023, attempting to save the lives of fellow soldiers. (IDF)<\/p>\n<\/a>
\n\t\tAnti-Zionist protesters with a Hezbollah flag outside a synagogue in New York City, May 11, 2026. (Luke Tress\/Times of Israel)<\/p>\n