Haaretz editor-in-chief Aluf Benn issued a warning against the rise of Yamina chairman MK Naftali Bennett in an editorial published Monday titled 'Anyone but Naftali Bennett.'
"Bennett is undoubtedly the most impressive Israeli politician who has emerged over the past decade. He is fluent and accessible, and overcomes his weakness as an orator with the charisma of a platoon commander leading his soldiers into battle. Most importantly, he’s not Netanyahu. Instead of the prime minister’s miserliness and glory-hounding, which has led him to indictment, Bennett is seen as go-getter without affectations who pays his way and doesn’t eat for free," Ben writes.
According to the Haaretz editor, Bennett's political positions on issues such as the peace process, Judea and Samaria, and the judiciary should disqualify him from becoming prime minister in Netanyahu's place.
Benn concludes: "The right-wing positions are irrelevant. This is not the issue now, but rather the coronavirus, and if Bennett is elected prime minister, he will discover, like his predecessors, that things look different when you’re in the driver’s seat and he’ll put his ideology in quarantine. Still, don’t be tempted. Whoever wants an egalitarian Israel, which seeks peace inside and out and protects human rights with a strong court, should be worried about Naftali Bennett’s leap to the top. He should be taken seriously."