{"id":877894,"date":"2026-06-19T09:09:24","date_gmt":"2026-06-19T09:09:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/877894\/"},"modified":"2026-06-19T09:09:24","modified_gmt":"2026-06-19T09:09:24","slug":"naftali-bennett-calls-to-establish-israeli-constitution-lays-out-political-vision","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/877894\/","title":{"rendered":"Naftali Bennett calls to establish Israeli constitution, lays out political vision"},"content":{"rendered":"

Former prime minister Naftali Bennett<\/a> presented his vision for Israel’s future on Thursday ahead of the upcoming elections, calling for the establishment of a constitution “in the spirit of the [US] Declaration of Independence” and outlining plans for his government if elected.<\/p>\n

Speaking at a Jewish International Connection Israel (JIC) event in Jerusalem, Bennett addressed an audience of English speakers and took questions about his plans for the country.<\/p>\n

“We’re going to address some of the biggest problems we’re facing: cost of living, education, crime, crazy housing costs, our international standing, and security above all,” Bennett said.<\/p>\n

Bennett, who leads the Together Party, is one of the leading figures in the opposition bloc seeking to replace Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu<\/a> in elections scheduled to take place no later than October 27.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Bennett said one of his first priorities would be establishing a state commission of inquiry into the failures<\/a> surrounding the October 7 Hamas massacre.<\/p>\n

\"OppositionOpposition Leader Yair Lapid and former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett attend an election event for the joint list \u201cTogether\u201d ahead of the upcoming elections, in Tel Aviv, central Israel, May 12, 2026. The list is set to be led by Bennett. (credit: MIRIAM ALSTER\/FLASH90)<\/p>\n

“After such a colossal failure, the bereaved families and all of the State of Israel deserve answers to ensure this will never happen again,” he said.<\/p>\n

He also explained that he planned to create a constitution for the country that would be established \u201cin the spirit of the [US] Declaration of Independence.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bennett to reverse draft evasion-enabling legislation<\/strong><\/p>\n

Bennett pledged to reverse legislation advanced by the current government that he said enables haredi draft evasion<\/a>.<\/p>\n

“We’ll cut benefits to draft evaders and direct them to those who serve. Incentives work. We’ll start seeing our haredi brothers with us in the IDF,” he said.<\/p>\n

He said a government led by him would make the rehabilitation of northern Israel a national priority amid the ongoing threat and attacks from Hezbollah.<\/p>\n

Bennett spoke on his plans to lower the cost of living.<\/p>\n

“Prices are high for one main reason: we don’t have real competition. We’ll break up monopolies, cut regulation, and open the market to imports,” he said.<\/p>\n

Bennett said that the advancement of artificial intelligence in the country would also be a priority.<\/p>\n

His remarks came a day after he announced the formation of an advisory committee on AI aimed at advancing artificial intelligence.<\/p>\n

“In the past, countries invested in weapons, energy, and defense. The next global race is AI. We need to be at the forefront of this revolution,” Bennett said.<\/p>\n

Bennett aims to create shared national foundation through education<\/strong><\/p>\n

Bennett spoke on his education plans, which he said aim to create a shared national foundation, rather than continuing with the current system.<\/p>\n

Under his proposal, all students would be required to spend 60% of their studies on a core curriculum that includes Hebrew, English, mathematics, civics, Torah studies, and Zionist heritage.<\/p>\n

“Every child in Israel will have an opportunity to succeed in the 21st century, whether they grow up in Dimona, Jerusalem, Umm al-Amad, or Kiryat Shmona,” he said.<\/p>\n

The remaining 40% of studies would be determined by individual communities and schools.<\/p>\n

“They can teach Talmud, music, cyber, entrepreneurship, whatever they choose,” Bennett said.<\/p>\n

He added that state funding would be contingent on teaching the shared curriculum.<\/p>\n

“Only those who teach the shared Israeli foundation will receive our tax money.”<\/p>\n

Bennett spoke on the government he and Yair Lapid had led between 2021 and 2022.<\/p>\n

“We took the country from a huge deficit to a surplus, lowered prices through competition, decreased crime by 30%, increased the number of students taking five-unit Bagrut exams, and a bunch of other achievements that everyone said were impossible,” he said.<\/p>\n

He added that he had spent the past two years consulting experts and preparing a comprehensive plan for Israel’s future.<\/p>\n

“On the first day of government, we won’t waste time. We’re going to hit the ground running.”<\/p>\n

Lapid and Bennett announced they would run together in April, with Bennett in the lead.<\/p>\n

Addressing his renewed partnership with Lapid, Bennett said that they had chosen to unite despite political differences, and that they had the shared goal of working together so that “Israel can once again become a light unto the nations.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former prime minister Naftali Bennett presented his vision for Israel’s future on Thursday ahead of the upcoming elections,…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":877895,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2],"tags":[310722,99,356767,26902,192939,50,341005],"class_list":["post-877894","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","tag-2026-israeli-elections","tag-israel","tag-israeli-election","tag-israeli-politics","tag-naftali-bennett","tag-news","tag-together-party"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116775996117747338","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/877894","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=877894"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/877894\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/877895"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=877894"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=877894"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=877894"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}