Bennett came to the defense of Netanyahu on Facebook and warned of the dangers to the right-wing if the prime minister was driven from office.
By World Israel News Staff
Naftali Bennett, chairman of the New Right party, posted a lengthy warning on Facebook on Saturday night: “If the justice system succeeds in toppling Netanyahu because of cigars and articles on the Walla site, it will be a mortal blow to the entire national camp.”
Bennett referred to the corruption cases facing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in which he is accused of giving political favors in exchange for gifts, like cigars or favorable political coverage.
Bennett said, “A right-wing leader who will come after him will be castrated and frightened by the media and the justice system.”
Bennett, who is a rival of Netanyahu and has had run-ins with him in the past despite their both being in the nationalist camp, wrote:
“‘Why are you protecting Bibi?’ I’m asked this every day. My friends, I’m not only defending Netanyahu, but the whole national camp, and our State of Israel, against unfair legal and media persecution of Netanyahu, head of the right-wing camp and prime minister of Israel.”
“Netanyahu is not perfect. But he was a very good prime minister for the State of Israel and for its security,” he said.
Bennett didn’t hold back on criticism of Netanyahu in his post. He said Netanyahu criticized left-wing hegemony in Israel but did little to curb it.
He also noted that Netanyahu had voted in favor of the disengagement from the Gaza Strip, which then turned into a terrorist enclave. And that Netanyahu had declared in a 2009 speech at Bar-Ilan University that he was in favor of a Palestinian state.
But Bennett also credited Netanyahu for a strong economy and for maneuvering through eight years of a hostile American government under President Barack Obama.
Bennett also praised Netanyahu for blocking Iran in Syria and for delaying the Islamic Republic’s progress in developing nuclear weapons.
“In my estimation, he will be remembered in the chronicles of our people as a very good prime minister of Israel,” Bennett said.