Prime Minister Naftali Bennett’s spokesman Matan Sidi resigned on Monday, the fourth departure from the premier’s inner circle in the past month.
The 26-year-old Sidi had a meteoric rise, beginning to work with Bennett four years ago, when he was education minister and then defense minister.
In the past year, Sidi was Bennett’s spokesman, but also managed all of the Prime Minister’s Office’s communications, including that of the Mossad, National Security Council, National Economic Council, National Cyber Directorate and more.
Sidi plans to work in the private sector. Bennett’s political spokesman Yotam Ben Yitzhak will take his place in the Prime Minister’s Office.
Bennett said that Sidi “was with me in the more and less successful moments, managing communications… professionally and with great talent. Despite his young age, he showed understanding, fluency and knowledge in the many areas I dealt with, along with extraordinary abilities in managing national events and complex communications crises.”
"Despite his young age, he showed understanding, fluency and knowledge in the many areas I dealt with, along with extraordinary abilities in managing national events and complex communications crises.”
Prime Minister Naftali Bennett
Other resignations
Sidi is the third departure from a high-level position in the Prime Minister’s Office in recent weeks, following Bennett’s diplomatic adviser Shimrit Meir and his chief of staff Tal Gan-Zvi, who had worked with the prime minister for a decade.
Meir and Gan-Zvi each had a different vision for Bennett; the former advised the prime minister to be more centrist and the latter pushed for Bennett to be loyal to his former right-wing base, leading to tensions within the upper echelon of the Prime Minister’s Office.
In addition, Bennett’s personal assistant, Naomi Sasson, resigned last week.