Jewish Home Chairman Naftali Bennett participated in the Jerusalem conference of Channel 7 and the newspaper 'Besheva' this afternoon (Monday) and explained his political and social doctrine.
""We are at a historic point in time," Bennett stated. "A decade ago, the feeling was that religious Zionism was being trampled. The message was that love would prevail, and because of the defeat, we thought the message was wrong. Since then, we have been on the power bus, and our next step is power.".
""To lead, you have to think about where we want to be in 100 years," Bennett said in his speech. "We are at a point where we have to decide whether we are just a refuge for the Jewish people or whether we are a Jewish state.
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""We need the left, the Haredi, and religious Zionism. We need the three publics, and we need all of them," Bennett noted.
Bennett emphasized that the government also has limitations: "We are at a point of change and this is the transition to leadership. Religious Zionism sometimes looks like someone who hasn't eaten for a long time and is jumping on the food. We are no longer the rope that pulls the leadership in one direction or another. We need to be more state-oriented because we are the leadership.".
According to him, "Majority rule does not mean trampling on the minority, and on the other hand, considering them does not mean giving in to them. All right-wing governments since '77 have not ruled, we came to rule.".
""We need to govern! A government was elected to govern according to its values. Leadership was elected to lead! My argument is first and foremost towards us. Before the legal system and before all the other problems. The right-wing leaders are elected and are afraid to govern. They hand everything over to the legal advisors. I tell you from the experience of three ministries, actually four with the Ministry of Religious Services, whoever wants to govern – govern!
""At the Ministry of Economy they told me there would be no competition in cement. Today there is! At the Ministry of Education when I wanted to take down a play that glorified a murderer, they told me it would be difficult to defend it in the High Court, I said then make an effort - and the play was taken down.".
""Even today, after many years of eliminating Sephardic Jewry from the education system, we will bring it back.".
""Someone who is elected under the slogan that a Palestinian state will not be established and then talks about two states is not acting in accordance with his values for which he was elected. He is not fulfilling his policies. He is not governing.".
In his remarks, Bennett also addressed the civics textbook controversy, clarifying that he is not moved by the criticism, "I work for the people of Israel and not for the editors of Haaretz.".
