MembersANALYSIS: Bennett is Changing Israel’s Domestic and Foreign Policies

It has now been nearly a month since Israel’s new Prime Minister Naftali Bennett took office and already significant changes in government policy are discernible. These changes are visible in the domestic and foreign policies of the new Israeli government.

Bennett began his arduous task without a comprehensive briefing from former Prime Minister Netanyahu. The longest-serving ex-Israeli prime minister spoke to Bennett for just 20 minutes before the official transfer of power.

This did not stop Bennett, a former high-tech entrepreneur, from immediately taking a series of measures that showed he was well prepared for this complicated task.

During the first Cabinet meeting, he asked his ministers to resolve differences of opinion on all kinds of political matters internally and, above all, not to publicly express dissatisfaction with the government’s policies.

Bennett did this to end the polarization that had paralyzed the work of the Israeli government and parliament (Knesset) in recent years.

Bennett also broke with Netanyahu’s habit of making all kinds of important decisions alone and showed...