Bennett, Lapid unveil election blueprint to overhaul Israel’s security and diplomacy

Former prime minister and Beyachad chairman Naftali Bennett unveiled his security doctrine Wednesday ahead of the election, arguing that the October 7 massacre exposed not only a failure along the Gaza border but the collapse of an entire security concept fostered for years under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “What collapsed on October 7 was not only the defensive line facing Gaza,” Bennett said at a party conference. “On October 7, an entire security doctrine collapsed, one that Netanyahu had instilled for years.” Bennett said he intends to “break four assumptions” if elected to lead the next government. The first, he said, concerns Iran and Hezbollah. Against what he described as the existing equation under which Iran responds to Israeli strikes in Lebanon, Bennett proposed reversing the logic: “Every Hezbollah attack will lead to us striking Iran.” He also repeated a position he previously presented at the ynet and Yedioth Ahronoth conference, saying that while Netanyahu has described Qatar as a “complex country,” he would formally define it as an enemy state. “Anyone who does not understand that after October 7 is not fit to lead Israel,” Bennett said. A third assumption, he argued, is that Turkey and Qatar should have a role in Gaza’s postwar arrangements and in the Board of Peace. “We will remove Turkey and Qatar from Gaza and bring Egypt in instead, while preserving freedom of action in Gaza,” he said. Bennett also addressed the roughly half a million illegal weapons he said are circulating inside Israel. He pledged to redefine the issue as a national security threat rather than a criminal one, bringing in the IDF and Shin Bet and declaring areas with illegal weapons closed military zones until they are cleared. “The October 7 government is still captive to the assumptions of October 6,” Bennett said. He contrasted that with his own previous government, arguing that it changed Israel’s deterrence equation with Gaza. “After tens of thousands of rockets and incendiary balloons that Netanyahu’s government contained, we hit them even over a single balloon,” Bennett said, claiming his government delivered southern communities their quietest year in years. Bennett also addressed the IDF manpower crisis, saying it was untenable for the military to be short 20,000 soldiers while around 100,000 healthy young Haredi men remained outside military service. “In the next government under my leadership, we will draft everyone,” he said. “No exemptions and no tricks.” He also criticized remarks by former Shin Bet chief Yoram Cohen, who is affiliated with Gadi Eisenkot’s party, that the party could accept exemptions for 30% of young Haredi men. “The moment you start with ideas like a 30% exemption, committees and frameworks, we have all been there,” Bennett said. “And we know from experience exactly how it ends.” After Bennett, his No. 2, Yair Lapid, presented what he described as Beyachad’s top foreign policy goals for the next government. “The diplomatic crisis was created not only because of circumstances, but also because of the negligence, arrogance and amateurism of the Israeli government,” Lapid said. He also opposed giving up U.S. military aid to Israel, calling Netanyahu’s position “a serious mistake.” Lapid laid out six goals for repairing Israel’s foreign relations, beginning with the United States. He said Israel must restore the bipartisan standing it enjoyed until recent years, rebuild ties with the European Union, deepen cooperation with NATO and confront hostile public opinion in countries including Spain, France and Ireland. He also called for repairing relations with Diaspora Jewry. “World Jewry is our family,” Lapid said. “It is also a strategic and diplomatic asset that we need to preserve.” Lapid said Israel should deepen its regional integration, with Egypt and the United Arab Emirates as key partners, while making normalization with Saudi Arabia a central objective. At the same time, he said Israel must prevent uranium enrichment on Saudi soil “at any cost.” Echoing Bennett, Lapid called for Qatar to be declared an enemy state. On Turkey, however, he struck a more cautious tone, saying Israel should explore whether tensions can be lowered. “This confrontation is not good for us,” he said. His final priorities were better coordination between economic policy and foreign policy, and an overhaul of Israel’s international public diplomacy. Israel’s voice abroad, he said, must be professional, attuned to younger audiences and effective on social media. “A lot more Noa Tishby,” Lapid said, “a lot less Orit Strock.”