JUNE 10 • 2021 | 31

Netanyahu. 
Since then, Bennett has served 
in various cabinet positions 
under Netanyahu alongside his 
longtime political partner, Ayelet 
Shaked — as diaspora affairs 
minister, education minister and 
defense minister. He later split 
from Jewish Home and now 
heads a right-wing party called 
Yamina. 
Last year, after an uneasy alli-
ance with Netanyahu, Bennett 
broke with the prime minister 
and last week announced that he 
would ally with Lapid.

PALESTINIAN STATEHOOD, 
WEST BANK ANNEXATION
Bennett is an unabashedly 
hawkish religious Zionist who 
has long opposed Palestinian 
statehood, citing what he deems 
Israel’s security concerns. Early 
in his political career, he vowed 
to do “everything in my power” 
to make sure Palestinians can’t 
establish an independent state. 
If he had his way, Bennett 
would also immediately annex 
much of the West Bank to Israel. 
Netanyahu also flirted with West 
Bank annexation but demurred 

from the idea due to opposition 
from the Trump administration. 
Because his potential coali-
tion includes left-wing parties, 
Bennett won’t be able to annex 
any of the West Bank under the 
incoming government. 

ECONOMICS
On the economic front, Bennett 
advocates for free-market 
reforms, particularly in Israel’s 
expensive housing market: He 
is against regulation, taxes and 
other restrictions on business. He 
is a proponent of widening Israel’s 
network of trade partners around 
the world, including in emerging 
markets and in smaller countries 
with newer relationships with 
Israel.

CONTROVERSIAL 
COMMENTS
The outspoken politician has 
been criticized for his inflamma-
tory rhetoric about Arabs and 
Palestinians. In 2013, Bennett 
called for killing Arab terrorists 
who have killed Jews, instead of 
imprisoning them.
“I have killed lots of Arabs in 
my life — and there is no prob-

lem with that,
” he said at the time.
He has also said there is no 
perfect “solution” to the Israeli-
Palestinian conflict, and com-
pared it to an ongoing irritation, 
like “shrapnel in the buttocks.
”
He has urged Netanyahu to 
attack Hamas more aggressively 
in Gaza as well. In 2019, he said 
Netanyahu had “failed against 
Hamas in Gaza” for a decade and 
criticized Israel’s policy of “con-
tainment.
”
Recently, though, he said 
addressing the Israeli-Palestinian 
conflict should be a lower priority 
than addressing the pandemic 
recovery. 
“In the next years we need to 
put aside politics and issues like 
annexation or a Palestinian state, 
and focus on gaining control 
over the coronavirus pandem-
ic, healing the economy and 
mending internal rifts,
” he said in 
November.

OTHER POLICIES
As an observant Orthodox Jew, 
Bennett is against same-sex 
marriage. However, he is slightly 
more liberal on the issue than 
some of his Orthodox peers in 

politics, saying that he would 
allow for tax breaks for same-sex 
couples.
As education minister, Bennett 
was criticized for attempting 
to insert religious content into 
Israel’s secular public-school 
curriculum. 
Bennett also voted for a con-
troversial law that defined Israel 
as the nation-state of the Jewish 
people, which critics called 
damaging to Israel’s multieth-
nic democracy. Following the 
law’s passage, however, Bennett 
acknowledged that the law hurt 
non-Jewish Israelis who serve in 
the Israeli military, such as Druze 
Israelis. 
“It has become clear that the 
manner in which the Nation-
State Law was enacted is very 
damaging — especially to them 
and to anyone who has tied his 
fate to the Jewish state,
” Bennett 
said in 2018 after meeting with 
Israeli Druze leaders. “This, of 
course, was not the intention of 
the Israeli government. These are 
our brothers who stand shoulder 
to shoulder with us on the battle-
field and made a covenant with 
us — a covenant of life.
” 

The Knesset on June 2 elect-
ed Jewish Agency for Israel 
chairman Isaac Herzog as 
Israel’s 11th president. The 
vote was conducted in a 
special session during which 
Knesset members cast secret 
ballots for either Herzog or 
Israel Prize laureate Miriam 
Peretz.
The previous day, each 
candidate had arrived at the 
Israeli parliament with teams 
of up to 50 relatives, friends 
and professionals, who lob-
bied members to vote for 
them.
Ahead of the vote, Knesset 

Speaker Yariv Levin reviewed 
the secret-ballot procedure, 
while Herzog and Peretz 
watched the proceedings 
from a special area of the 
plenum.
Knesset Secretary Yardena 
Meller-Horowitz invited each 
MK, alphabetically by last 
name, to cast his or her vote 
behind a curtain. All had the 
option of casting a white 
ballot, meaning a vote for 
neither candidate.
Once the voting was over, 
Levin announced a recess for 
the votes to be tallied. 
The ballot box was taken 

into a separate room where 
members of the Knesset 
Ballot Committee — MK 
David Bitan (Likud), Yosef 
Taieb (Shas), Emilie Moatti 
(Labor) and Yoel Razvozov 
(Yesh Atid) — performed the 

count.
The president-elect is not 
sworn in on the day of the 
voting. Incumbent President 
Reuven Rivlin will remain in 
office until July 9. His succes-
sor will be sworn in closer to 
that date.
“At this time of disputes, 
I am making a big effort to 
ensure that the presidential 
election takes place in a 
good atmosphere and in a 
way in which the president 
who is elected will be wel-
comed by everyone,” Levin 
told Israel Hayom.
Herzog is the son of the 
late Chaim Herzog, who 
— among other illustrious 
posts — served as Israel’s 
sixth president from 1983 to 
1993. 

Isaac Herzog Elected 
Israel’s 11th President

YORI YALON AND DANIELLE ROTH-AVNERI JNS.ORG

Israeli President-elect Isaac 
Herzog at the Knesset in 
Jerusalem on the day of the 
election, June 2, 2021.

YONATAN SINDEL/FLASH90

