Naftali Bennett registers new party ahead of potential reentry into politics

Former Israeli premier Naftali Bennett registered a new party on Tuesday, under the name “Bennett 2026.”

According to Channel 12 News, Bennett is building a team of close associates ahead of a possible run in elections for the 26th Knesset, currently scheduled for Oct. 27, 2026.

“If and when it is decided to run in the actual elections, an announcement will be issued on the matter,” said Bennett, who served a one-year term as prime minister from June 2021 to June 2022.

Opposition leader Yair Lapid congratulated Bennett, tweeting, “Israel needs a good government.”

Bennett is taking a somewhat different route to finding the right people to work with in his party, using a company that focuses on placing employees in the high-tech field to sift through potential candidates, Channel 12 reported.

To this end, he has “recruited one of the most senior women in the field of placement and manpower,” according to the report.

Others disagreed, saying the former prime minister wanted to apply the lessons from the past to better select his team.

In June 2024, Bennett hinted at a return to politics. “Three years ago today, I took the oath of allegiance as the 13th Prime Minister of the State of Israel,” he wrote on X, adding: “We did it then, and we can do it again. We will establish a state here that is worthy of this people.”

In September 2024, Bennett sparked anger on the right after he suggested that the creation of a Palestinian state could be discussed in six to eight years.

“The transformation process is complete. Good luck in the race for the leadership of the left against Lapid and Yair Golan,” said Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli of the Likud Party.

Chikli parted ways with Bennett after the latter formed a coalition with Yesh Atid Party chief Yair Lapid and the Islamist Ra’am Party in 2021.

According to Israel’s Channel 14, Bennett had said at a conference in Frankfurt, “What we need to do in the short term is reduce friction with the Palestinians—improve their dignity, their autonomy—but not give up our security, and we can debate a Palestinian state in six years, maybe eight years.”

Bennett once headed the Yesha Council umbrella group of Judea and Samaria communities and ran in the March 2021 election on a platform that opposed the establishment of a Palestinian state, Channel 14 noted at the time.

Responding to the Channel 14 report, Bennett described the broadcaster’s translation of his remarks to Hebrew as a “complete fake” and that he “opposes a Palestinian state. Period.”

In July, Knesset lawmakers voted overwhelmingly in favour of a resolution rejecting the establishment of a Palestinian state. The motion, put forward by opposition Knesset member Ze’ev Elkin of the New Hope Party with support from the Yisrael Beiteinu Party, passed 68 to 9.

The Knesset opposes “a Palestinian state on any piece of land west of the Jordan River. The existence of a Palestinian state in the heart of Israel will pose an existential threat to the State of Israel and its citizens, will further extend the Israel-Palestinian Arab conflict and be a source of destabilization for the entire region,” the July 18 resolution stated.

JNS