Former premier Naftali Bennett vowed Thursday to replace Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and stay out of any government led by him, but avoided ruling out the incumbent as a potential future coalition partner.

After 30 years in politics, roughly half of them as premier, Netanyahu “needs to go home,” Bennett told the Ynet news site. “Of course I won’t serve under him — I’m going to replace him.”

“Netanyahu in his actions is tearing the State of Israel apart,” said Bennett, accusing the premier of pushing “controversial legislation” in wartime, working to codify the Haredi exemption from the draft, and continuing to employ aides who were paid lobbyists for Hamas-backer Qatar.

Bennett made similar comments in a slew of interviews to Hebrew media on Thursday. In the interviews, Bennett also expressed support for the ongoing war with Iran, calling it “justified,” but stressed that success must be measured in terms of strategic outcomes and not declarations of victory.

The right-wing former premier, who frequently appears in international media, last spoke to Israeli media about a year ago. Asked by Ynet why he was doing so now, Bennett asserted that he “chose to be interviewed to lift up the heads of the people of Israel.”

“There is an amazing and strong nation here, and a powerful military, but they’re looking at the leadership, at the hapless government,” he said.

Bennett also insisted in the interviews that he was the only candidate to lead the Zionist anti-Netanyahu bloc in the next elections, which are scheduled for October at the latest.

The comments came after recent polling showed Bennett trailing fellow bloc leader Gadi Eisenkot, a former IDF chief, both in terms of personal popularity among opposition voters and in the number that each of their parties would secure in the Knesset.

“I am the only person who has replaced Netanyahu as prime minister in the last generation. I know how to do it, I’ve done it and I’ll do it again,” added Bennett, who in 2021 assumed the........

© The Times of Israel