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'New Covenant': Bennett outlines plan to 'build Israel from scratch' in every major area of life

From Jerusalem Post · () English

Summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

At a glance

News Sources not specified New plan
  • Former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett unveiled a comprehensive plan called the 'New Covenant' to rebuild Israel from scratch.
  • The plan includes reforms in education, aiming to improve standards and dismantle the current Education Ministry, and a crackdown on the haredi community's influence.
  • Bennett also vowed to combat food cartels, specifically mentioning foreign ownership of Tnuva, and to reform Israel's economy by confronting monopolies.

Former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett has outlined a sweeping plan, dubbed the 'New Covenant,' aimed at fundamentally rebuilding Israel across all major sectors of life. Speaking at a press conference Tuesday, Bennett described the initiative as a foundational repair to the state, asserting that the previous government had damaged institutions beyond simple repair, necessitating their complete dismantling and reconstruction.

The agreement between the state and its citizens has been broken. The last government destroyed many state institutions, and they can no longer simply be repaired - they need to be dismantled and rebuilt.

— Naftali BennettExplaining the need for his 'New Covenant' plan.

Bennett envisions Israel's next government as a "founding government," akin to the era of David Ben-Gurion. He stated that he and his team have spent two years developing plans to address the nation's core problems. Key proposals include a significant overhaul of the education system, with the goal of achieving private school quality in public education while redirecting funds directly to classrooms and teachers. He also targeted the haredi community, calling its current relationship with the state "slow-motion suicide" and vowing to dismantle the "ultra-Orthodox state within a state" to foster a unified Jewish, democratic, and prosperous nation.

The instruction I gave them was: How would you build an excellent state from scratch?

— Naftali BennettDescribing the development process for his plan.

In economic matters, Bennett declared an "all-out war against food cartels," specifically naming Chinese company Bright Food, which owns Tnuva. He accused such entities of exploiting the market through monopolies to inflate prices. Bennett pledged to break up these monopolies and lower prices, directly addressing major companies like Shufersal and Unilever. He also intends to establish a new security cabinet and employ aggressive tactics, such as the "Al Capone method," to tackle organized crime and corruption.

Today, the state spends an average of about NIS 50,000 per child. That is the cost of a private school, without the quality of a private school.

— Naftali BennettHighlighting perceived inefficiencies in the education system.
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Originally published by Jerusalem Post. Summarized and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

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