For new Israeli PM Naftali Bennett, it was never about the money

Naftali Bennett's new, odds-defying unity government began laying the groundwork Monday for an Israeli political scene that - for the first time in 12 years - will be defined by factors beyond Benjamin Netanyahu, his divisive rhetoric and his proclivity for testing the country's democratic founding principles.

Bennett praying at a synagogue. Most Israeli premiers arrive from the public sector or the military. Naftali Bennett is the first to enter politics from the world of tech. Fresh out of the army in 1999, he co-founded anti-fraud company Cyota, which was bought out by security company RSA in 2005 for $145 million. Eight years later, as an investor and CEO of Soluto, he led another exit; this one valued at $100 million.

He’s almost certainly the richest prime minister in the country’s history. But money, for Bennett, was a means to an end; his dream was to be prime minister. Having reached that goal, the question is: What will he do as the country’s leader?

A far-right Jew, Bennett was once a resident of the Jewish colony of Beit Aryeh-Ofarim in the West Bank.

His coalition, composed of eight parties across the ideological spectrum, will not be capable of big-ticket foreign policy initiatives. Bennett’s foreign policy aims will focus, as all Israeli prime ministers do, on Israel’s relationship with the US.

The unity government - which calls for right-wing former defense minister Naftali Bennett to serve as prime minister for two years before handing over the job to centrist Yair Lapid - is composed of eight ideologically disparate parties from the left, centre and right, including, for the first time in Israel’s history, a party from the country’s Arab-Islamist community.

Of the 27 ministers, nine are women, including Labor Party leader and vocal feminist Merav Michaeli. Their roles represent a sharp contrast with Netanyahu’s previous cabinets, which were deeply influenced by ultra-Orthodox parties thatopposed the participation of women in government.

At home, Bennett’s success will depend largely on his ability to calm the rancourous political atmosphere brought by Netanyahu, keep his disparate fellow ministers on board, deliver post-COVID prosperity and push reforms of the legal system, social welfare and digital infrastructure (oddly enough, the “start-up nation” has one of the world’s slowest internet speeds).