Right-wing millionaire is Israel campaign’s surprise star
Worldwide, Daily news | ankakh | January 9, 2013 20:32
A right-wing millionaire who says a Palestinian state would be suicide for Israel has emerged as the surprise success story of the country’s election campaign.
So much so that Naftali Bennett, a former aide to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who is said to have fallen out with his old boss, is now expected to face the Israeli leader across the cabinet table after the January 22 election.
Opinion polls show Bennett’s far-right, and revamped, Bayit Yehudi (Jewish Home) seems to appeal to many voters, predicting the party will finish third in the parliamentary election that Netanyahu is widely forecast to win.
Dismissing as a “dead end” efforts to achieve a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Bennett wants to annex more than half of the occupied West Bank and give autonomy to Palestinians.
“Forming a Palestinian state within the Land of Israel would spell eternal strife and war and bloodshed,” Bennett said in American-accented English, reminiscent of that of his former boss, Netanyahu, in an interview with Reuters.
“How would you feel if the entire world is in consensus that you need to commit suicide. Would you go ahead and commit suicide if you’re sure that it is wrong?” said Bennett, the Israeli-born son of parents from San Francisco.
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