Naftali Bennett: Israel’s hardline kingmaker

OCCUPIED AL-QUDS: Jewish Home leader Naftali Bennett, a social media savvy former entrepreneur and vocal opponent of a Palestinian state, is the new kingmaker of Israeli politics with a key role in the government.
The 43-year-old’s meteoric rise has turned his nationalist-religious party into a political force able to demand several key portfolios in return for joining Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s incoming coalition.
The former Special Forces commando took Israeli politics by storm in 2012 when he became head of the Jewish Home, which was flailing with just three seats in the 120-member parliament.
Bennett increased the hardline party’s representation in the Knesset fourfold and became economy minister.
He is set to become education minister in the new government.
A son of American immigrants, the former high-tech entrepreneur with near-perfect English sold his start-up in 2005 for $145 million and went into politics a year later, heading Netanyahu’s staff when his Likud party was in opposition.
As economy minister under Netanyahu between 2013-2015, Bennett further honed the communicator skills that helped propel him into government, using social networks to connect with voters in Hebrew, English and French.
His social media posts address people as “brothers” and “sisters” and use self-effacing humour.