THREAD: Who is Israel’s next Prime Minister, Naftali Bennett?
Bennett is a far-right ultranationalist who staunchly opposes Palestinian statehood or self-determination of any kind in Palestine/Israel.
Bennett is a far-right ultranationalist who staunchly opposes Palestinian statehood or self-determination of any kind in Palestine/Israel.
In 2020, Defense Minister Bennett ordered a stop to Israeli army-run testing of Palestinian residents for COVID-19 in the Gaza Strip in the midst of the pandemic.
Not a settler himself, from 2010 to 2012 he was head of the main political body (Yesha Council) that represents Israeli settlers living on occupied Palestinian land in violation of international law and is a staunch supporter of Israel’s settlement enterprise.
He has repeatedly stated his opposition to a Palestinian state being created in the occupied territories. Instead, he proposes Israel unilaterally annex the approximately 60% of the Palestinian West Bank that fell under full Israeli control
under the supposedly temporary Oslo Accords, where most Israeli settlements are located.
In 2014, Bennett told journalists Israel “will be gradually attempting to apply Israeli law [annexing] on Israeli controlled areas of Judea and Samaria [the occupied West Bank].”
In 2014, Bennett wrote an oped for the NYT: “For Israel, Two-State Is No Solution,” and in 2013, he told New Yorker magazine: "I will do everything in my power, forever, to fight against a Palestinian state being founded in the Land of Israel."
A few months later, in June, he declared: "The most important thing in the Land of Israel is to build, build, build [settlements]. It's important that there will be an Israeli presence everywhere. Our principal problem is still Israel's leaders'
unwillingness to say in a simple manner that the Land of Israel belongs to the People of Israel."
Bennett also advocates increased Jewish control over the revered Al-Aqsa mosque complex in occupied East Jerusalem, which is the third holiest site in Islam. Extremist messianic Jews want to build a temple where Al-Aqsa mosque is,
which would spark a major religious conflagration in the region and beyond.
In October 2018, Bennett said that if he were defense minister he would order a shoot to kill policy against Palestinians attempting to walk across the boundary between Israel and Gaza, where nearly 2 million people have been trapped under an
illegal Israeli siege and naval blockade for 15 years.
Read our factsheet to learn more about Bennet: imeu.org/article/quick-…
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