Bennett Turns Up The Heat On Netanyahu As Elections Loom

Former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett criticized Netanyahu's handling of Israel's wars and his incapability to rein in far-right minister Itamar Ben-Gvir.

He positioned himself as a sharper, faster alternative ahead of elections due by October 27, 2026.

Ben-Gvir Is Hurting Israel

Bennett said it is costly for Netanyahu's coalition to depend on National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir.

"Israel's international standing is so bad. It's shocking, largely because of failures and statements made by government ministers," he said.

"Netanyahu knows that Ben-Gvir's repeated stunts are enormously harmful to Israel. They damage our standing in the United States and undermine Trump's ability to help us. But Netanyahu is incapable of putting Ben-Gvir in his place because he depends on him."

He reminded an earlier remark regarding nuking Gaza: "When you have a minister who stupidly says, 'We're going to nuke Gaza,' 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, for serious stuff, you've run out of credit."

Bennett Rejected a Palestinian Consulate In East Jarusalem

Bennett examplifying his stance on the face of ally pressure, said "Biden pressured Netanyahu to agree to the establishment of an American consulate for Palestinians in East Jerusalem. Netanyahu had agreed in principle to establish it.”

“Then I entered office, and Biden told me: 'I demand that you establish the consulate.’”

“And I told him: 'Mr. President, Jerusalem is the capital of only one state - the State of Israel. I must refuse.'"

A Strategy of “Siege” Is More Effective For Gaza

Bennett outlined an alternative tactical framework for Gaza based on isolation and siege rather than sustained urban warfare.

"We would isolate areas, apply a full siege on those areas and let the citizens out and trap the terrorists," Bennett said.

Bennett also offered a striking observation on Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar's decision to launch the October 7 attacks.

"Do you know what Sinwar's greatest strategic mistake was? That he attacked. Because we were on the path to self-destruction."

A Game on Iran Already Started With Mossad

On Iran, Bennett described a multi-layered strategy he said he had already begun putting in motion during his time in office:

"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't achieve a nuclear weapon before," he said.

"The actions that I had begun with the Mossad and other groups are about 30 different actions. Not only bombing. I'm talking about economic actions. I'm talking about cyber, overt, covert."

Bennett has previously described himself as Iran's "worst nightmare" if returned to power.

His Together alliance, nationalist in orientation but secular and more moderate in style than Netanyahu's current far-right coalition partners, aims to peel away right-leaning voters frustrated with Netanyahu's legal troubles, the judicial reform crisis, and what Bennett calls governance failures since October 7.

Bennett founded a new party in 2025 called Bennett 2026, and allied with centrist Yair Lapid of Yesh Atid to form a joint list called Together (Beyachad), which Bennett leads.

The alliance has polled in double digits for Knesset seats and is considered one of the most significant electoral threats to Netanyahu's Likud-led coalition.

Bennett previously ousted Netanyahu once, in 2021.