Naftali Bennett's six months are up - analysis

Bennett began his term with clear goals, but what has he actually done?

By ANNA AHRONHEIM
Defense Minister Naftali Bennett at the Defense Ministry on February 25, 2020. (photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM/THE JERUSALEM POST)
Defense Minister Naftali Bennett at the Defense Ministry on February 25, 2020.
(photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM/THE JERUSALEM POST)
When outgoing Defense Minister Naftali Bennett first sat behind his desk on the 14th floor of the IDF Military Headquarters, he knew that time was ticking before he would have to vacate the position he’s always wanted.
Bennett, who served in the IDF’s elite Sayeret Matkal and Maglan commando units, knew of the goals he wanted to accomplish from day one.
He took on the role at a time when Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the defense establishment were screaming at every chance they could about the threat posed by Iran.
Bennett was no different, reading countless books about Iran and calling himself an “Iranologue.” He wanted to turn up the heat against the Islamic Republic in Syria, to force it out of Israel’s neighbor to the North, sooner rather than later.
Because after all, a senior source said, “if Israel is concerned about an Iranian response to Israeli airstrikes now, what would happen in another two years?”
While Israel’s war-between-wars campaign has been able to cause significant damage to Iran’s project in Syria, Bennett wanted the Israeli military to increase their steps against Iran and Hezbollah.
“I have placed a goal that within 12 months Iran will leave Syria,” Bennett told The Jerusalem Post in an interview in February to mark his 100 days as defense minister. “Iran has nothing to look for in Syria, they aren’t neighbors they have no reason to settle next to Israel and we will remove Iran from Syria in the near future.”
Several months later, a senior defense source told reporters that Iran has begun to withdraw troops from Syria and close bases, crediting the increase of alleged Israeli strikes and their intensity.
While many have been skeptical of the claim, Bennett has stressed that Israel "will not give up nor allow the establishment of a forward Iranian base in Syria... Iranian soldiers who come to Syria and act there are endangering their lives. They are risking their lives and will pay with their lives.”
On Wednesday, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah even addressed the claims, calling Bennett an “idiot” and warning that Israel’s focus on forcing Iran and Hezbollah out of Syria could lead to an unintended escalation.
“Now they're focused on expelling Iran from Syria and that led to the stupidity of the Israeli DM setting a timetable for forcing Iran out of Syria. They are claiming that as a result of Israeli military actions and pressure, Iran and Hezbollah are withdrawal from Syria - and this idiot defense minister is congratulating himself and setting the end of 2020 as the deadline for Iran's withdrawal from Syria,” Nasrallah said in rare comments on Israeli airstrikes in Syria, adding that “what they're perceiving as withdrawal of forces is simply the end of the need for forces in certain areas after the battles there have been won decisively.”
Whether or not it’s an increase in airstrikes, because anyone following the conflict can attest to the significant amount of strikes in Syria, or simply Iran recalculating their next step in the country, the Islamic Republic remains a top threat to Israel.
But Iran was not the only issue on Bennett’s table as defense minister.
In the West Bank, he advanced settlement building and created seven nature reserves and announced a campaign against illegal Palestinian construction in Area C. “Whatever is built without approval will be demolished. Don’t waste your money,” he has said.
His “brief sojourn as defense minister – just six months – was nothing short of a tsunami when it came to entrenching Israel’s presence in Judea and Samaria in advance of pending plans to annex 30% of the West Bank,” wrote Tovah Lazaroff in an article published earlier this week.
In terms of terrorism, one of his first moves as defense minister was to announce that Israel would no longer release the bodies of terrorists as part of a broader policy of deterrence. “As long as they don't release the bodies of our soldiers, we won't release their bodies,” he said.
Towards the end of his term,  Israel and Hamas are said to be advancing the negotiations to return the missing soldiers and civilians held in Gaza. But we’ve all heard those reports before,  until the deal is signed, many are still skeptical.
As defense minister he also oversaw several rounds of violence in the Gaza Strip and wanted to do “something different” in relation to the terror groups in the Hamas-run enclave. He wanted to provide more for the civilians in Gaza but warned that the Strip would feel the full force of the IDF should violence continue.
In February, he hinted that Hamas would have a “painful spring.” But that never happened.
The coronavirus happened, and instead of another military operation in the blockaded coastal enclave, Israel provided medical equipment to help curb the spread of the deadly virus in the world’s most densely populated area.
As the virus took hold in Israel, Bennett was one first to urge increasing the number of coronavirus tests and providing quick answers to identify those infected with the virus and quarantine in separate facilities, saving the economy from collapse. Understanding the scale of the pandemic, Bennett fought to transfer the responsibility of fighting the coronavirus from the Health Ministry to the IDF and defense establishment
But that never happened either. Nevertheless, the handling of the pandemic by the Defense Ministry and the IDF’s Homefront Command has to be credited for the hard in-the-field work that they did, day in day out.
During his brief stint as defense minister, while Naftali Bennett never oversaw a military operation with Israel’s enemies, he oversaw a war against a deadly pandemic that swept across the globe.  While he may now be in Opposition, the right-winger isn’t done fighting.