Former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett published a sharply worded post on social media after the Ministerial Committee for Legislation approved a bill that would bar individuals with outstanding debts from previous Knesset campaigns from running again unless those debts are paid in full.
Bennett charged that the legislation-already nicknamed the “Bennett Law”-was designed specifically to block his return to political life.
“Take a rule of thumb: the harder the poison machine works against me, the more they understand that change is coming,” Bennett wrote, claiming that the latest “fake news” campaign revolves around alleged “party debts.”
He argued that the Likud party itself “has the largest debt today-about 56 million NIS in party financing-and it keeps growing year by year.” Bennett added, “It’s hard to take the Likud’s sudden concern for public funds seriously.”
Addressing his own parties’ financial records, Bennett said that the Habayit Hayehudi party’s debt of over 17 million NIS dates back to 2011-before he became its leader-and that he both inherited and passed on the debt in accordance with standard political procedure. Regarding the Yamina party, he noted that after completing his term as prime minister and retiring from politics, he handed control of the party to Ayelet Shaked, who ran in the subsequent elections. “I am not in any debt to any party,” he emphasized.
“Instead of facing me in free elections, the Likud is trying to prevent me from running,” Bennett concluded. “If they thought they could win, they wouldn’t resort to personal, retroactive legislation like this. It won’t work. I won’t let this background noise distract me from my mission-to unite the people and restore Israel.”