Former prime minister and the current head of the B’Yachad party Naftali Bennett denounced Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as an “anarchist” whose toxic campaigning could put main rival Gadi Eisenkot in physical danger ahead of the October 27 election.
Bennett made the comments in a wide-ranging interview with Channel 12 broadcast on Saturday that accompanies the release of a new book by journalist Ari Shavit, titled “Bennett: Hour of Truth,” based on dozens of conversations between the two.
Bennett, a right-wing former Netanyahu ally who unseated the longtime premier to create his so-called “change government” with centrist, left-wing and Arab parties in 2021-2022, alleged that a pro-Netanyahu “poison machine” — including the Likud campaigns and a network of pro-Netanyahu media and social media outlets, headed by the Channel 14 network — has since created a false image of him as power-hungry and obsessive for the post of prime minister, arguing that his real motive is to save the country.
In recent months, Bennett’s alliance with Opposition Leader Yair Lapid has consistently lost ground in opinion polls, with the centrist Yashar party chief Gadi Eisenkot becoming the main rival to Netanyahu.
