Naftali Bennett Personality Type
Prime Minister of Israel from 2021 to 2022
Naftali Bennett (Hebrew: נַפְתָּלִי בֶּנֶט, Transliterated: Naftālī Beneṭ, IPA: [naftaˈli ˈbenet]; born 25 March 1972) is an Israeli politician currently serving as the 3rd Alternate Prime Minister of Israel since 1 July 2022, having previously served as the 13th prime minister of Israel from 13 June 2021 to 30 June 2022. Bennett has served as the leader of the New Right party since 2018, having previously led The Jewish Home party between 2012 and 2018.Born and raised in Haifa, the son of immigrants from the United States, Bennett served in the Sayeret Matkal and Maglan special forces units of the Israel Defense Forces, commanding many combat operations, and subsequently became a software entrepreneur. In 1999, he co-founded and co-owned the US company Cyota. The company was sold in 2005 for $145 million. He has also served as CEO of Soluto, an Israeli cloud computing service, sold in 2013 for a reported $100–130 million.Bennett entered politics in 2006, serving as Chief of Staff for Benjamin Netanyahu until 2008. From 2010 to 2012, he was the director of the Yesha Council. In 2011, together with Ayelet Shaked, he co-founded the My Israel extra-parliamentary movement. In 2012, Bennett was elected as the party leader of The Jewish Home. In the 2013 Knesset election, the first contested by The Jewish Home under Bennett's leadership, the party won 12 seats out of 120. He served under Prime Minister Netanyahu as Minister of Economy and Religious Services from 2013 to 2015, before being appointed as Minister of Education in 2015. In December 2018, Bennett defected from The Jewish Home to form the New Right, a member of the Yamina alliance. After he lost his Knesset seat in the April 2019 Knesset election, he was dismissed by Netanyahu as Education Minister in June 2019. He regained his seat in the September 2019 Knesset election and was appointed Minister of Defense, before leaving the position the following year. In 2020, Bennett succeeded Shaked to become the leader of the Yamina alliance. On 2 June 2021, Bennett agreed to a rotation government with Yair Lapid, whereby Bennett would serve as Israel's Prime Minister until 2023, after which Lapid would assume the role until 2025. Bennett was sworn in on 13 June 2021.On 20 June 2022, Bennett announced that he will call for a vote to dissolve the Knesset and step down as prime minister shortly after its dissolution, to be succeeded by Lapid. On 29 June, he announced that he would not seek re-election to the chamber in the next election that have been scheduled for later in the year. Lapid succeeded him as Prime Minister on 1 July 2022, while Bennett succeeded Lapid as the Alternate Prime Minister. He also continues to serve as Minister of Community Affairs.
