In the aftermath of the Israeli legislative elections, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu cannot envisage forming a government coalition without having to court his former defense minister and leader of the religious nationalist right, Naftali Bennett, with whom he has stormy relations.

In the very enviable position of the kingmaker, the latter has still not revealed his intentions, while his Yamina party ("On the right") can hope to win between 6 and 8 seats of deputies according to projections.

This makes it essential for the two blocs, the pro and anti-Netanyahu, who clashed during this election.

"This power that you have given me, I will use by following one principle: to do what is good for Israel, what is good for the citizens of Israel", declared, in the night, Naftali Bennett. .

Before adding, not without ambiguity: "The time has come to heal wounds, to overcome divisions."

A two-way message, since at 48 years old, Naftali Bennett takes the opportunity to politically sink the prime minister by joining a coalition formed by the anti-Netanyahu bloc, made up of movements from the center, the left and right-wing dissidents , or to save it by negotiating, from a position of strength, its rallying to a coalition that will be more in tune with its own convictions.

"Naftali Bennett is likely to pay dearly for his eventual rallying to Benjamin Netanyahu," said Alain Dieckhoff, director of the Sciences-Po International Research Center, interviewed by France 24. "The latter risks having to offer him and his his relatives, very important ministries, even sovereign like the Ministry of Defense which he has already occupied, "he believes.

And to continue: "Without Naftali Bennett, it is almost impossible to form a coalition. Everything will depend on the leeway of Benjamin Netanyahu, if he does not manage to poach MPs from other parties, he will be very dependent on Yamina . "

During the campaign, Naftali Bennett has repeatedly said that it is time for Benjamin Netanyahu, 71 years old and in power since 2009, to make way for a new generation.

But he also assured that his Yamina party would not join a coalition whose Prime Minister would be the centrist Yaïr Lapid, while not ruling out the possibility of working with him or with the leader of Likud within a coalition. .

Son of American Jewish immigrants turned multimillionaire

A native of Haifa (north) and a law graduate from the University of Jerusalem, this son of American Jewish immigrants could never have been in politics.

Having become a multimillionaire after having sold his cybersecurity company Cyotta for 145 million dollars in 2005, he could have, as he likes to recall, end his life "drinking cocktails in the Caribbean".

It was his mobilization during the 2006 war against Hezbollah in Lebanon that convinced him, he says, to get into politics.

The ex-company commander in the Maglan unit, a pillar of the Israeli army's special forces, took the plunge and joined the ranks of Likud, where he headed the cabinet of Benjamin Netanyahu, then in opposition.

But his personal career really started in 2012, when he managed to take the head of the hard-right-wing Jewish Home, which won 12 seats in parliament a year later.

A founding act that will propel him over the years to the rank of the main actors of the Israeli right, but always in the shadow of Benjamin Netanyahu, whom he rallies on several occasions in government coalitions, in exchange for ministerial portfolios - he is appointed Minister of Economy and Religious Affairs in 2013, Minister of Education in 2015, then Minister of Defense in 2019, until May 2020. 

Firmly opposed to the creation of a Palestinian state which he says "will in the long run become another terrorist state like Gaza", and favorable to the expansion of Jewish settlements, where much of his electoral base is located, Naftali Bennett "likes to describe himself more to the right than Netanyahu."

He seduces with his uninhibited, even inflamed speeches on the strengthening of Israel's "Jewish identity", and his shocking remarks targeting the Palestinians and the left.

To the point of being qualified, in 2017, as a "clown" at the head of a "delusional nationalist party that smacks of fascism" by former Prime Minister Ehud Barak.

Today, he leads Yamina alongside Ayelet Shaked, a secular figure in this movement made up of small radical right-wing parties which advocates both economic ultraliberalism combining tax cuts and drastic cuts in public spending, a hard line in the face to Iran and the annexation of nearly two-thirds of the occupied West Bank.

"Naftali Bennett broke into politics in the movement of what is called religious Zionism, but he has broadened his spectrum to the right over the years, explains Alain Deckhoff. This is what led him to lead today. 'hui Yamina, which is a somewhat mixed movement with a religious Zionist base and at the same time a somewhat more secular dimension, represented by her right-hand man, MP Ayelet Shaked. "

"Sentenced to get along with Benjamin Netanyahu"

An Orthodox religious who grew up in a secular family, Naftali Bennett does not deny sharing ideological affinities with Benjamin Netanyahu, even if the two men do not appreciate each other on a personal level and do not hesitate to be angry during election campaigns.

"Naftali Bennett, who assumes a fairly strict religious practice while being extremely modern in form, is at the head of the party that has become the spearhead of the colonies and he remains 'Netanyanhu-compatible'", recently told France 24 Frédéric Encel, lecturer at Science Po and author of "The Geopolitical Atlas of Israel" (ed. Autrement).

And to add: "The rightization of Likud observed in recent years has considerably brought the points of view between the two men closer together."

Naftali Bennett also stands out from other political actors by giving the benefit of the doubt to Benjamin Netanyahu, prosecuted for corruption in three cases, by saying to wait for the verdict of justice, where others demand his withdrawal from the political scene while his trials.

A way to spare his rival with whom he could again govern, while waiting for his time to come, he who confided during the campaign that his objective was to become Prime Minister himself.

"His profile as a religious leader is an obstacle for his personal ambitions, because the fact is that in Israel, until now, there has never been a Prime Minister who clearly displayed himself as a religious", indicates Alain Deckhoff.

And to conclude: "Today, Naftali Bennett is not able to take the head of a government, his party weighs three times less than the Likud at the end of these legislative ones. He is therefore condemned to come to an agreement with Benjamin Netanyahu, unless he turns to the other camp and provokes the misunderstanding of a large number of his voters. "

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