Former prime minister Naftali Bennett said Tuesday that he would not allow Israel’s “failed” leadership to continue or be part of it, and that a leader “must know when to step aside,” in what appeared to be his first remarks suggesting that he will not sit in a government with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

“An Israel divided against itself will not stand,” Bennett told Jewish leaders at a Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations gathering in Jerusalem.

“Israel’s current leadership has divided us and continues to divide us even now, more than ever… I will not allow that failed and divisive leadership to continue, nor will I be part of it. I intend to lead Israel into its next, stronger chapter,” he continued.

Though he didn’t name Netanyahu, Bennett seemed to suggest that the prime minister should step down.

“After three decades since taking power, and after the greatest disaster in Israel’s history happened on his watch, a leader must know when to step aside with dignity,” he said.

“Israel is bigger than any one man,” he continued.

Bennett added that Israel’s “next chapter must be written by new leadership” and not by “the same people that are responsible for the disaster” of the Hamas-led October 7 attack, which saw the killing of some 1,200 people and the........

© The Times of Israel