Israel’s New Government: Political In-the-Know Test 2021

The man pictured is Yair Lapid, a former Israeli TV star, finance minister, and the head of the centrist Yesh Atid party. Under the coalition agreement with Naftali Bennet's Rightist party, he became Israel's Prime Minister when their coalition broke apart on June 20, 2022. He lost the elections to Benjamin Netanyahu's extreme right-wing coalition.

Who is Naftali Bennett?

Photo by Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class James K. Lee, U.S. Secretary of Defense, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Israel's former Prime Minister is Benjamin Netanyahu's former chief of staff, the son of American immigrants from San Francisco, who became a self-made tech millionaire before entering Israeli politics. He is 50, married to a pastry cook, with whom he has four school-age kids.

How to pronounce Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid?

Naftalī Bennett is named after Naphtali, the sixth son of Jacob and the founder of the Israelite Tribe of Naphtali, according to the Book of Genesis. It is pronounced: naaf·taa·lee. Bennett's family name is Anglo-Norman, not Hebrew, meaning "blessed," and pronounced as you'd imagine: beh·nuht.

Yair Lapid's name derives from the Biblical Book of Judges. Yair was a man from Gilead of the Tribe of Manasseh who judged Israel for 22 years. The literal Hebrew meaning of the name is "(He) will (make) light/illuminate" and is pronounced yaa·eer. Lapid is a torch in Hebrew and is pronounced laa·peed. And yes, the literal meaning of Yair Lapid's name is "He will light a torch."

Naftali Bennett is the first Israeli Prime Minister who wears a yarmulke - which in Israel means he’s practicing Orthodox Judaism: Keeps kosher, visits a synagogue at least once a week, and avoids work Saturdays, the Jewish Sabbath (except for vital assignments). It's the first time a religious Prime Minister governs Israel, as most of the country’s population considers itself either secular (only practices significant holidays) or conservative/masortim (keeping kosher, but generally not very strict about the Sabbath).

Does Naftali Bennett support the two-state solution?

As part of the religious Zionism stream of ideology, Bennett is a strong opposer of the two-state solution for the Israeli-Palestinean conflict. All his predecessors, since 1992, at one point or another, supported a demilitarized Palestinean State.

Naftali Bennet made some fortune as a software entrepreneur and then high tech investor, but he’s by far NOT Israel’s richest politician. Bennet’s net adventures earned him around $10 million (not far behind former Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu’s $14 million of private equities). Bennett is, however, expected to see around $5 million income from his investment in fintech company Payoneer, which after its merger with FTAC Olympus Acquisition Corp., values at $3.3 billion.

Who’s the wealthiest Israeli politician?

The richest Israeli politician is former Jerusalem mayor and current aspiring successor for Netanyahu in the Likud party, Nir Barkat. As mayor, he did not take any salary from the city of Jerusalem. According to Israeli Forbes, the former software entrepreneur turned major high tech investor is worth about $140 million.

Benjamin Netanyahu served in office for 15 years until 2021 and was reelected in 2023, the longest-serving Israeli prime minister. Israel’s national founder David Ben-Gurion is the previous Israeli record holder with 13 years in power.

While Bennet and Lapid’s coalition includes the Islamic United Arab List party for the first time in Israel’s history, the two non-Jewish cabinet ministers in Israel’s new government come from other, primarily Jewish parties.  The two non-Jewish cabinet members of Bennett and Lapid's government are Muslim Essawi Frej from the Leftist Meretz party and Druze Hamad Amar from the Rightist “Israel is our Home” party.