CNN Opinion: The Two Sides of Naftali Bennett

Published on cnn.com 14/06/2021

In 2015, I was a news producer for Al Jazeera America (AJAM). I was familiar with well-rehearsed politicians, whose attention spans were shorter than their one-liners -- and I thought then-Israeli Minister of Education Naftali Bennett would be no different. As an Israeli working for a Qatari news outlet, I also knew how quickly right-wing Israelis were ready to pigeonhole me.

But my surprising conversation with Bennett at that time revealed there was more common ground than resentment between Israel's political left and right. Now that Bennett has become Israel's new prime minister, that conversation has taken on new meaning -- and particularly in the wake of 12 consecutive years of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu's reign.

Though Bennett, an Orthodox entrepreneur, and leader of the small Yamina party, has positioned himself to the right of Netanyahu and as the would-be leader of religious Zionism, in recent weeks, he - (continue reading)