Israeli PM Naftali Bennett Steps Down from Politics as Knesset Disbands

Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett announced Thursday he will not run in the upcoming elections set for November 1 and is taking a step back from political life, a day before Israel’s 24th Knesset officially disbanded.

The outgoing prime minister said he will stay on as alternative prime minister in the caretaker government led by former Foreign Minister Yair Lapid as the country prepares to go to the polls for the fifth time in less than four years.

“As prime minister I strived to care for all citizens, regardless of who they voted for,” he said in a televised address. “This year we proved that people with all different opinions can work together.”

“I love this country above all else and will remain its loyal soldier, serving Israel is my calling,” he said.

Prior to entering politics in 2013, Bennett was a serial entrepreneur in the high-tech industry, who made millions with the sale of his company.

Interior Minister Ayelet Shaked will head Bennett’s Yamina party in the next election.

The heads of the coalition parties expressed their discontent at the Knesset’s dispersal on Thursday.

Labor head Merav Michaeli said: “The Knesset’s dissolution today shouldn’t have happened. The Knesset and the government are good for the State of Israel and should have continued to work, but there are those who could not withstand the pressure.”

“This dispersal was born in sin,” she added, according to a translation of her remarks by the Jerusalem Post.

Blue and White MK Eitan Ginzburg said that his party “did not want to dissolve the Knesset. I believe we gave up too soon. Elections for the fifth time in four years are not a healthy thing for the country. We in the Knesset have created something special that had not seemed possible in the past.”

Opposition Leader Benjamin Netanyahu said the last year of governance by a motley coalition formed between right-wing, centrist, leftist, and Arab parties, was a “failed experiment.”

“This is what happens when you mix together a fake right-wing party and extreme leftist parties, mix with the [Arab majority) Joint List – that’s what you get.

“That’s exactly what the upcoming election is about. Will there again be a failed Lapid government here, dependent on the Muslim Brotherhood in common with supporters of terrorism, or a broad and strong national government headed by us that will return pride, power and hope to Israel?”

In his prime time address on Wednesday, Bennett called on Israelis to “be better to each other.”

“In one short year we were able to do more than other governments did in a longer term,” he said. “We’ve shown people can work together even when they are ideologically apart. We’ve proven there is a value to agreements and we can work together,” he said.

Lapid thanked Bennett for his service, referring to him as “my brother.”