Bennett compares his government to Ben-Gurion’s on anniversary of his death

The prime minister also compared the divisions in the country in the years before independence to the divisions in Israel today. 

By TPS

Prime Minister Bennett attended the State Memorial Ceremony in memory of the late David Ben-Gurion held on Wednesday, the 48th anniversary of the death of Israel’s first prime minister, according to the Hebrew calendar.

“At the beginning of his public career, David Ben-Gurion saw himself as a Zionist and also as a socialist at the same time,” said Bennett.

“Alongside the Socialist Zionists were religious Zionists, liberal Zionists and spiritual Zionists and more. The multiplicity of identities embarrassed many of them,” he added. “Even Ben-Gurion’s closest friends found it difficult to decide who they were more loyal to, the working class, to which they belonged as socialists, or the Jewish people, for whom they were fighting as Zionists.

“Ben-Gurion made a clear decision – his loyalty is first and foremost to Zionism. His devotion to the Jewish people outweighs his devotion to everything else. The people above the class, the kingdom above the tribe.”

Bennett compared the divisions in the country in the years before independence to the divisions in Israel today. He also said that his government represents many different factions with different ideas of government, but who all share the same goal of preserving the Jewish State, in a coalition similar to the one formed by Ben-Gurion.

“There is a government formed in the name of the same unifying principle, the government is meant to calm the rift,” said Bennett. “We are determined to maintain statehood and a united state.”

Change blocDavid Ben GurionIsraeli politicsNaftali Bennett