Naftali Bennett in Vesti studio: on treason, the myth of 50 million for home renovation, and the ultra-Orthodox. Frank as never before
Former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett gave an interview to Vesti ahead of the October 27 elections. He refuted the myth of 50 million shekels for home renovation, stating it was a few hundred thousand. Bennett called for national unity, reforms, and fighting crime, noting a rise in murders under the current government.
The leader of the Be-Yahad party, former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, gave an interview to Vesti on July 29, 2026, opening a series of pre-election conversations with politicians. Bennett refuted claims about 50 million shekels for renovating his residence, calling them lies of Netanyahu's propaganda machine. According to him, the actual expenses were a few hundred thousand shekels for converting the basement into a working office. He emphasized that he entered politics not for money but to fix Israel's problems: lowering prices, breaking monopolies, fighting crime. Bennett noted that under his government, the number of murders decreased by 20%, while under the current one it doubled, from 148 to 300. He called for unity of Zionists and liberals, entrusted the police and Shin Bet with ensuring election integrity, ruling out a 'Capitol riot' scenario in Israel. The interview was conducted in Hebrew with Russian subtitles.