Naftali Bennett Replaces Benjamin Netanyahu As Israel's Prime Minister
49-year-old Bennett is a former tech entrepreneur and a former aide of current Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu.
Bennett served in the Israeli army from 1990 to 1996. Bennett came under fire for his involvement in the 1996 Qana Massacre when the Israel Defense Forces fired artillery shells at a UN compound where refugees were taking shelter resulting in 106 deaths.
After leaving the army, Bennett moved to the US where he co-founded Cyota, an anti-fraud software company. He sold the company in 2005 for $145 million.
Bennett returned to Israel and served as Benjamin Netanyahu's chief of staff between 2006 and 2008 when the latter was the leader of opposition. Bennett left Netanyahu's Likud party and joined The Jewish Home in 2012.
As a part of the coalition governments led by Netanyahu, Bennett held the Education, Economy, Religious Services, Diaspora Affairs and Defense portfolios.
In the 2021 Legislative elections, a coalition comprising of parties opposed to Netanyahu began talks to form a government with Bennett's Yakima and Yair Lapid's Yesh Atid being the main players.
On June 2, Lapid told the Israeli's President that he would form the government in a coalition deal with Yamina, Yisrael Beytenu, New Hope, Blue and White, Labor and Meretz.
According to the deal, Bennett would serve as the PM until 2023 after which Lapid will take over the post till the 2025 elections.