As the US finalizes its framework deal with Iran on ending the war — apparently set for signing in the coming hours or days — former prime minister Naftali Bennett has launched a fierce attack on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s entire strategy for tackling the Iranian regime and its proxies.

In an in-depth interview with The Times of Israel, Bennett denounced Netanyahu’s “whole approach,” critiquing “this very protracted war” on multiple fronts. If elected this fall, he promised, he would advance what he has long called his “Octopus Doctrine” — a multiyear action plan to accelerate the collapse of “a corrupt, old, incompetent, disconnected regime” in Tehran while ensuring it does not acquire nuclear weapons.

“It’s never been Israel’s doctrine to have an ongoing war, which exhausts Israeli society, exhausts the reservists, exhausts the economy, and dramatically hurts our international standing,” he said.

But the problem with the current prime minister, according to Bennett, is not limited to the Iranian arena. Four and a half months before what he said will be one of the most critical elections in Israel’s history, Bennett asserted that Netanyahu has simply lost the ability to govern, to win wars, to restore law and order, to integrate the ultra-Orthodox into Israeli society and to repair Israel’s battered standing in the world.

Speaking with ToI on Thursday at the campaign headquarters of Together, the new, merged party he now leads with former prime minister Yair Lapid, Bennett said Israel is facing “an existential moment,” and warned that another term under the current government would leave the country without a functioning economy, society or international position. “Another four years with this government, we won’t have an economy, we won’t have a society,” he charged. “The Haredi issue will just crash us all. We won’t have an international standing anywhere. We have to act now.”

“He simply can’t do it anymore,” Bennett said of Netanyahu. “He can’t win wars. He can’t deal with crime. He can’t bring down prices. He can’t integrate the ultra-Orthodox into Israeli society.”

‘Netanyahu simply can’t do it anymore. He can’t win wars. He can’t deal with crime. He can’t bring down prices. He can’t integrate the ultra-Orthodox into Israeli society’

‘Netanyahu simply can’t do it anymore. He can’t win wars. He can’t deal with crime. He can’t bring down prices. He can’t integrate the ultra-Orthodox into Israeli society’

A journey to the mainstream

The interview took place in the heart of Ra’anana’s high-tech district, in offices that look less like a traditional political campaign headquarters than an Israeli startup: an upper floor, clean windows, open workspaces, sweeping views of the Sharon region and a co-working area filled with campaign staff. The setting is apt for Bennett, a former tech entrepreneur who still speaks about leadership, strategy and government in the language of execution, management and results.

At the entrance, a chance encounter with Yair Zivan, Lapid’s longtime foreign affairs and communications adviser, underscored the nature of the new alliance: the merger of Bennett’s newly formed political vehicle for this fall’s elections, which never adopted a permanent brand name, with Yesh Atid, Lapid’s better-funded and established party machine, with its field organization, sitting lawmakers and campaign infrastructure.

The partnership surprised few. But once it was announced, it was also clear who would helm the ticket. Lapid remains a central figure in the alliance, but Bennett is its candidate for prime minister.

Early polling has offered a note of caution. In the weeks since the merger was unveiled, surveys have indicated that the alliance is not generating a multiplier effect. Rather, some support appears to be shifting away from Together and toward former IDF chief of staff Gadi Eisenkot, head of the new Yashar party and another prominent contender for Israel’s top job.

Inside Bennett’s office, the visual messaging is revealing. On a side table, alongside a small Israeli flag and a framed family photograph, stand miniature figures of Israel’s founding generation: David Ben-Gurion, Golda Meir and Theodor Herzl leaning over the famous Basel balcony. Nearby is a small, vivid painting of Ben-Gurion in bright oranges and blues, the Israeli flag rising behind him over a dramatic landscape.

For a politician who made his name in the leadership of the settlement movement and became Israel’s first kippah-wearing prime minister, the absence of traditional religious-Zionist symbols is striking. There are no portraits of prominent rabbis, no settlement movement imagery, no obvious visual markers of the ideological world from which he emerged. Instead, the office projects the language of mainstream Israeli statehood: the first prime minister, the foundational ideologue, the Declaration of Independence, civic equality, liberal democracy and national institutions.

The knitted kippah remains on Bennett’s head. But as he sits down for the interview, he does not present himself primarily as a religious politician. The room around him sends a clear message: Bennett has completed his journey to the Israeli political mainstream, and he wants voters to notice.

In our conversation, Bennett, who served as prime minister in 2021-2022 after unseating Netanyahu, argued that the current premier’s dependence on far-right coalition partners Itamar Ben Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich has left him unable to act in Israel’s core national interests. Ben Gvir and Smotrich, he said, “bring huge international damage with statements and actions that don’t really promote any interest; it’s just for small politics.”

On Israel’s relationship with Donald Trump, Bennett praised the US president’s record on Israel, citing his recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, moving the US embassy there, recognizing Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights, the killing of Iran’s al-Quds chief Qassem Soleimani and the damage inflicted on Iran. But, he stressed, an Israeli prime minister must be able, when necessary, to “stand up and ensure the security of his people at all costs.”

Bennett said he believed he could forge a strong working relationship with Trump because of their shared background outside career politics. “He was a businessman, not a career politician, same as me,” Bennett said. “His worldview is, let’s get stuff done. Let’s look at results, not process. And that’s precisely my view.”

Torah study bill ‘a desecration of God’s name’

Bennett also sharply criticized the government’s handling of the ultra-Orthodox draft crisis, calling Israel’s decades-long approach to Haredi autonomy a case of “slow-motion national suicide.” He said generations of politicians had allowed “an independent Haredi state to be formed within Israel,” in which many of the Haredi community’s children are not taught English, math, civics, democracy or Zionism.

“I love my Haredi brothers and sisters, but enough is enough,” he said. Bennett said his plan would not include stripping voting rights, jailing draft dodgers or bringing “tanks into Bnei Brak,” but would instead end state funding for schools that refuse to teach the core curriculum, and cancel tax breaks, daycare subsidies and housing benefits for those who don’t serve in the military or work.

He was especially scathing about current coalition efforts to codify Torah study as a national priority in a Basic Law, saying the move was not about honoring Torah but about renewing the flow of state funds to those who refuse to serve or work. “This bill has one goal: to renew the flow of billions of shekels a year to people who deliberately decide not to serve, not to work,” Bennett said. “It uses the Torah as a tool for money.”

Asked about women in combat, Bennett said he supports women serving in the military and in combat roles wherever the IDF determines it is appropriate. Mentioning Captain Or Moses z”l, the deputy company commander at the Zikim training base who was killed on October 7 while trying to rescue a wounded soldier, Bennett said: “No one should tell me that women cannot fight.”

On settler violence, Bennett, a former head of the Settlers Council, stressed that the vast majority of Israelis living in Judea and Samaria are law-abiding citizens who serve in the army and have suffered years of terror attacks. But he condemned violence against innocent Palestinians and against soldiers “in the strongest possible terms.”

“We did not return to the State of Israel, to the Land of Israel, after thousands of years to have militias and vigilantes,” he said. There is no place for that. There must be law and order everywhere in Israel — whether it’s the Negev or Bnei Brak or the Galilee or Judea and Samaria. And I will restore law and order in Israel.”

Bennett said he sees himself, if returned to office, as responsible not only for Israeli citizens but for Jews worldwide, at a time of surging antisemitism and deepening alienation from Israel. He accused the current government of repeatedly “shooting ourselves in the foot,” including through attacks on the Reform movement, the largest Jewish denomination in America.

“My vision for Israel is an exemplary and secure state for the Jewish people in the Land of Israel,” Bennett said. “Let’s be exemplary. Let’s shine among the nations.”

The following is the full transcript of our interview, with the questions and answers lightly edited for clarity.

The Times of Israel: Let’s start with the situation with Iran. Israel needs the United States to be on board [in tackling the Iranian threat], but joining together with Trump has a lot of problematic aspects. Netanyahu is unable to reject or object to anything that Trump says. If you were a prime minister, what would you do differently?

Naftali Bennett: Well, first of all, I want to say that President Trump has truly been amazing for the State of Israel. It started in his previous term, and I don’t forget that. I don’t look only at the past week; I look at the whole track record — of recognizing Jerusalem [as Israel’s capital], moving the embassy to Jerusalem, recognizing the Golan Heights [as sovereign Israeli territory], killing [Iran’s IRGC al-Quds chief] Soleimani, and of course the massive damage that’s been done to Iran.

For an Israeli prime minister, ultimately, there are moments where he has to stand up and ensure the security of his people at all costs, and I’m sure President Trump respects that. Just as he understands that he would do anything to secure the lives of Americans, so we have to secure the lives of Israelis.

On a broader scope, I think that I would be able to forge a very good relationship with President Trump, because of very similar backgrounds. He was a businessman, not a career politician, same as me.

I was not a career politician. I first entered business, got things done. And his worldview is: Let’s get stuff done, let’s look at results, not process, and that’s precisely my view. Regionally, I also believe that business and economy........

© The Times of Israel