{"id":908249,"date":"2026-07-02T20:12:21","date_gmt":"2026-07-02T20:12:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/908249\/"},"modified":"2026-07-02T20:12:21","modified_gmt":"2026-07-02T20:12:21","slug":"naftali-bennett-ai-is-israels-next-frontier-as-global-standing-sinks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/908249\/","title":{"rendered":"Naftali Bennett: AI is Israel’s next frontier as global standing sinks"},"content":{"rendered":"

Former prime minister Naftali Bennett warned Thursday that artificial intelligence<\/a> has become a national-security infrastructure comparable to electricity, saying Israel cannot afford to depend on foreign powers while its international standing deteriorates and Iran continues to recover.<\/p>\n

Speaking in a wide-ranging interview with Sivan Cohen-Saban on 103FM, Bennett<\/a> said Israel must treat AI, cyber, chips, energy, data centers, and defense technology as central tools of national survival.<\/p>\n

\u201cAI is no longer some technology<\/a>,\u201d Bennett said. \u201cIt is much deeper. More than it resembles a computer, it resembles electricity.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bennett said Israel\u2019s current diplomatic weakness makes technological power even more important. Israel, he argued, must work to restore its standing abroad while ensuring that allies and rivals alike continue to need Israeli innovation.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are not popular in the world, and we are not loved,\u201d he said. \u201cI do not seek for them to love us. I want our friends to appreciate us and our enemies to fear us.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"FormerFormer prime minsiter Naftali Bennett speaks on plan for Israel at Jewish International Connection Israel (JIC) event in Jerusalem for English speakers, Thursday, June 18, 2026. (credit: Together Party)Israel must have a strategic answer for the entire AI ecosystem<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the tools for this interim period, until we improve Israel\u2019s status in the world, is that they will need us,\u201d Bennett added.<\/p>\n

Bennett said the government must make sure Israel has a strategic answer at every layer of the AI ecosystem, from infrastructure and chips to models, energy, and applications.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe responsibility of the Israeli government is to make sure that in each of these layers we have an answer, so that we are not dependent on others,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He acknowledged that Israel had likely missed the opportunity to build frontier AI models from scratch, saying the cost of doing so now runs into \u201cbillions and billions,\u201d but argued that the country must still secure capabilities through domestic development and durable partnerships.<\/p>\n

Every Israeli child should receive a personal AI tutor<\/strong><\/p>\n

Bennett also said every Israeli child should receive a personal AI tutor, arguing that the education system must stop treating AI as a threat.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery child will receive a personal AI private teacher,\u201d he said. \u201cThe AI will teach. The teacher will educate.\u201d<\/p>\n

The former prime minister tied the technology discussion directly to Iran, saying Israel had erred for decades by fighting Tehran\u2019s proxies while leaving the regime itself largely untouched.<\/p>\n

He said that as a cabinet member in 2017, he presented a plan to weaken what he called \u201cthe Iranian octopus,\u201d arguing that Israel was too focused on \u201cthe arms\u201d of the octopus, including Hezbollah and Hamas, while \u201cthe head\u201d remained in Tehran.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy do our sons fall in Maroun al-Ras and Shuja\u2019iyya while the ayatollahs in Tehran are immune?\u201d Bennett asked.<\/p>\n

Bennett said that when he became prime minister, he began implementing a broader strategy that included cyber tools, covert action, support for opposition forces, exposing corruption, and efforts to preserve internet access during Iranian protests.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe first thing the regime does every time there is a protest is shut down the internet,\u201d Bennett said. \u201cI said: Let us create infrastructure for internet continuity before the next protest. They would shut it down, and we would turn it on.\u201d<\/p>\n

He claimed that Netanyahu did not continue the program after Bennett\u2019s government fell.<\/p>\n

\u201cHad they continued this plan, not only the internet component but dozens of actions, I think that in the January 2026 protest wave, the Iranian regime could have fallen,\u201d Bennett said. \u201cThere was a historic missed opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n

Military force was only one tool available to Israel<\/strong><\/p>\n

Bennett stressed that military force was only one tool available to Israel.<\/p>\n

\u201cReagan never bombed Moscow, and he defeated the Soviet Union without using the military,\u201d he said. \u201cThe state has dozens of diplomatic, public-diplomacy, economic, and other tools, and we insist on using only one.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bennett sharply criticized the Netanyahu government\u2019s handling of Israel\u2019s current wars, saying Israel had failed to achieve its goals on multiple fronts.<\/p>\n

\u201cHamas is growing stronger and recruiting terrorists. Hezbollah is strengthening, hurting our soldiers and standing. Iran is on its feet and recovering, already renewing its ballistic production plants,\u201d he said. \u201cThe government has not met any goal it set for itself.\u201d<\/p>\n

He also warned that Israelis traveling abroad this summer would feel the consequences of Israel\u2019s weakened diplomatic position.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe international status of Israel is the hardest it has ever been,\u201d Bennett said, adding that, for the first time since Israel\u2019s founding, a majority in the US views Israel negatively.<\/p>\n

Bennett said Israel must now combine technological strength with a renewed diplomatic offensive. He praised UAE President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed, calling him \u201cprobably the best state leader in the world today for his country,\u201d and said Israel had failed to turn the Abraham Accords into a major technology bridge because of poor execution.<\/p>\n

In the first weeks of a government led by him, Bennett said, he would seek to reengage Egypt, Jordan, the UAE, Bahrain, and possibly Saudi Arabia.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere will be a revival here,\u201d Bennett said.<\/p>\n

He also said he believed he could work effectively with US President Donald Trump, saying they shared a business-oriented and pragmatic approach.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe both come from a business background. We are both very pragmatic. We both believe that business is one of the foundations of peace and normalization,\u201d Bennett said.<\/p>\n

Still, Bennett said Israel must stand firmly for its own interests, citing his refusal as prime minister to agree to the reopening of a US consulate for Palestinians in Jerusalem.<\/p>\n

\u201cI told him, with all politeness, \u2018Mr. President, I respect you. I must refuse,\u2019\u201d Bennett said of then-US president Joe Biden.<\/p>\n

\u201cGadi and I need to enter a room until white smoke comes out”<\/strong><\/p>\n

The interview also touched on domestic politics, with Bennett saying Israel must build a broad Zionist government and that he and former IDF chief of staff Gadi Eisenkot must prevent ego from dividing the opposition bloc.<\/p>\n

\u201cGadi and I need to enter a room until white smoke comes out,\u201d Bennett said. \u201cI will do anything, everything, to make this happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bennett said he believes he is the most qualified candidate for prime minister, citing his experience as premier, defense minister, economy minister, and high-tech entrepreneur, but added that he would do \u201cwhatever is required\u201d to bring political change.<\/p>\n

On Netanyahu, Bennett said the prime minister was \u201cno longer capable\u201d of leading because of his political dependence on the Haredi parties and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe needs to go home,\u201d Bennett said. \u201cThe state does not depend on him.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former prime minister Naftali Bennett warned Thursday that artificial intelligence has become a national-security infrastructure comparable to electricity,…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":908250,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2],"tags":[738,372,90,99,192939,50,80],"class_list":["post-908249","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-benjamin-netanyahu","tag-elections","tag-israel","tag-naftali-bennett","tag-news","tag-politics"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116852211653201111","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/908249","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=908249"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/908249\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/908250"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=908249"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=908249"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=908249"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}