Naftali Bennett’s Reset: Why the Former Prime Minister Broke His Promise and Wants to ‘Repair’ Israel

Naftali Bennett sits at an informal gathering in Beersheba while a voter named Yankele tells him he feels betrayed. The accusation is blunt: Bennett came from the right-wing camp, then, in Yankele’s words, “you turned your back on ideology for a job.”

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Do you know why the hurt was so great? Because we know that you come from us, from our camp, from our ideology, and because, excuse me, you turned your back on ideology for a job.

Bennett is deliberately putting himself in such encounters. Like Jimmy Carter introducing himself to voters in 1976, the former Israeli prime minister is traveling across the country and speaking with what he calls “regular people” in street-corner “parliaments.” But Bennett is not introducing himself for the first time. He is trying to reintroduce himself to Israelis, especially right-wing voters who feel they no longer recognize the man they supported.

The anger centers on his decision in 2021 to form a government with Mansour Abbas’s Ra’am and Yair Lapid’s Yesh Atid. Bennett’s meetings can include hecklers shouting “liar” and “traitor.” He says he does not approach them to prove that he was right. Instead, he explains why he made the decision and listens to the criticism.

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I JUST come in, sit, have coffee, and they start cursing.

“I JUST come in, sit, have coffee, and they start cursing,” Bennett told The Jerusalem Post. He said the experience was difficult but useful, adding that he accepts the criticism that “I broke a promise” and that voters believe he “zigzagged.”

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That I broke a promise. Yeah, and they feel that I zigzagged.

Bennett’s political identity remains rooted in the right. He previously headed the Yesha Council, opposes a Palestinian state and supports settlement in Judea and Samaria. He openly acknowledges the broken pledge: “I did break a promise. That’s just a fact. Unfortunately, I had promised not to form a government with Abbas, and I did. I can’t change history, but I stand behind that decision, and I explain why I made that decision.” His broader pitch includes haredi enlistment and integration as part of what he describes as an effort to repair Israel.

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I did break a promise. That’s just a fact. Unfortunately, I had promised not to form a government with Abbas, and I did. I can’t change history, but I stand behind that decision, and I explain why I made that decision.