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Israeli elections: The 5 candidates steering the debate

Israeli elections will be held Jan. 22.

3. Naftali Bennett, hi-tech entrepreneur and settler advocate

Amir Cohen/Reuters/File
Naftali Bennett, head of the Jewish Home party, campaigns at a bar in the southern city of Ashdod in this December 2012 file photo.

  • By Chelsea B. Sheasley Contributor

The surprise star of the elections, hi-tech entrepreneur and settler advocate Naftali Bennett, has rocketed from obscurity to the hottest politician in Israel since winning his party’s primary in November. His Jewish Home party, which holds three seats in the current parliament, is expected to quintuple its size, winning at least 14 seats.

A former chief-of-staff to Netanyahu, Bennett is now forcing his former boss to move further to the right to stop the siphoning off of votes to Jewish Home.

Bennett advocates a “Stability Plan” that calls for the annexation of approximately 60 percent of the West Bank, including all the Israeli settlements. The territory, known as Area C, is currently under Israeli military control, but is part of the area envisioned by Palestinians and the international community for a future Palestinian state. 

Bennett told the The Times of Israel that the state can’t afford to bend to international pressure on controversial issues such as Area C, where the Israeli population has nearly tripled since the 1993 Oslo Accords outlined a two-state solution.

“What’s right for Israel is to apply Israeli sovereignty over Area C, the area where there’s 360,000 Israelis and only 48,000 Arabs,” he said. “The world will condemn. It will be a few bad days of condemnation, but if you have the will and the power to do it, you do it.” 

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Mark Sappenfield
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