Hamas, Gaza on agenda of Israel’s coalition talks
New Right senior Naftali Bennett has toned down his statements on the Gaza Strip over the past few days; he is interested in becoming the defense minister in a future Netanyahu government.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s reported plan to appoint religious right-wing politician Naftali Bennett as defense minister is being met with political hurdles, but Bennett is not deterred. He had indeed lost his once significant political power by this year’s two elections, but he keeps airing out his ministerial suit in the hopes of getting the post of which he has long dreamed.
The first harbinger of a rapprochement between the two men since Netanyahu fired Bennett in June from his position as education minister was an embarrassing Oct. 19 post by the chair of the New Right party, attacking Israel’s law enforcement authorities for going after Netanyahu. Netanyahu, he wrote in reference to the pending indictments against him, received “way too many cigars and champagne. That is indeed not okay, but not something over which to topple a prime minister.”
