Former Israeli PM Naftali Bennett Pitches a Bigger Abraham Accords While Polls Show Him Third Ahead of Tuesday's Vote
A Channel 12 poll from Oct. 23 projects 23 seats for Eisenkot, 21 for Netanyahu and 15 for the Bennett-Lapid slate. Bennett says he would expand the Abraham Accords. Trump endorsed Netanyahu on Oct. 18.
Fox News profiles Naftali Bennett as Israel heads to the polls, describing the former prime minister as a wild card in a three-way race.
The pitch. Bennett, 54, a former tech entrepreneur, wants to expand the Abraham Accords, build economic ties with Arab states and repair Israel's strained relations with Washington. He told The Times of Israel in June that Trump "was a businessman, not a career politician, same as me" and that his worldview is to "get stuff done."
The polls. His joint Beyachad, or Together, slate with former PM Yair Lapid trails. A Channel 12 poll published Oct. 23 projected 23 Knesset seats for former military chief Gadi Eisenkot's Yashar party, 21 for Netanyahu's Likud and 15 for Bennett and Lapid. Fox says Trump endorsed Netanyahu for re-election on Oct. 18, so Bennett's overlap with Trump's agenda is not an endorsement.
Why it is not over. Fox notes that finishing first is not required to become prime minister. In 2021 Bennett took the job after his Yamina party won only seven of 120 seats, by assembling a coalition of right, center, left and Arab parties. That government collapsed in 2022, and Fox says many of his former supporters accuse him of betraying his promises.
His background. Born in Haifa to American parents from San Francisco, Bennett served in Sayeret Matkal and Maglan, co-founded cybersecurity firm Cyota, sold in 2005 for $145 million, and later served as economy, education and defense minister. A strategic advisor who has known him for years, Einat Halevy Levin, told Fox he built a governing organization this time rather than "another election campaign," and that he "has undergone a transformation."
Note for readers: this is a profile with a sympathetic source, not a forecast. The poll is one survey from before the vote. Israel votes Tuesday, Oct. 27, its first election since the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attack. We covered the Netanyahu and Eisenkot race and the military exercise.