Today I voted for Naftali Bennett. I did it because Israel needs a change of government, a serious reckoning with the failures of October 7, and leadership capable of bringing people together around the work of running the country. I do not expect a politician to agree with me on everything. I do expect him to accept responsibility and understand that the state is bigger than his own political survival.
Bennett is running with Yair Lapid on the joint B’Yachad list. In Israel we vote for a party, and the government that eventually emerges will depend on coalition negotiations. My vote was a choice about the direction I want that process to take.
Benjamin Netanyahu has to go. This is not a conclusion I reached lightly. Israel faces real threats, and Iran is one of them. But the existence of those threats does not excuse the failures of the government, the endless political maneuvering, or the attempt to make every demand for accountability look like a distraction from national security. A country that cannot examine its mistakes will repeat them. A leader who treats every criticism as a threat to himself cannot unite the country for long.
October 7 deserves a state commission of inquiry with the independence and authority to examine what happened, before and after the attack. The families of the murdered, the hostages and their families, the soldiers and the public all deserve answers. Bennett has called for such an inquiry. That matters to me, as does his pledge to limit the time a prime minister can remain in office. No person should become so entangled with the state that replacing him comes to seem like a national emergency.
I also want a government that understands the connection between security and the strength of the society behind the army. People who work, pay taxes and serve cannot be expected to carry an ever-growing burden while politicians protect exemptions to hold a coalition together. The question of ultra-Orthodox military service is difficult, and a workable change will take more than slogans. It cannot be postponed forever.
Israel needs to remain an open, modern economy connected to the world. Our technology companies need customers, investment, talent and reliable banking relationships. Families need a government that pays attention to the price of food, housing and the ordinary costs that do not disappear when a politician gives another speech about an existential threat. Bennett’s experience in technology and business is relevant here. Experience is not a guarantee, of course. He will have to show that his promises can survive contact with the budget and the coalition.
I have disagreements with Bennett, and I have not forgotten that he has made political choices that other voters will judge harshly. His earlier government was fragile and short-lived. The criticism that another broad coalition could be unstable is fair. But the answer to instability cannot be a permanent exemption from change, especially when the present government has done so much to deepen distrust.
I voted for a chance to move past the politics of permanent crisis and start rebuilding confidence in Israel’s institutions. The result is not known yet, and a ballot is not a blank cheque. If Bennett gets the chance to govern, he should be judged by what he does: whether he pursues accountability, shares the burden more fairly, protects democratic institutions and puts the interests of the country ahead of those of the coalition.
That is why I voted for him today.