Bennett: “Netanyahu Threatened Me”

Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett made a number of sensational claims in interviews with local media on Thursday, bashing opposition leader Binyamin Netanyahu as an unscrupulous propagandist on the one hand, and crediting himself with a world-beating pandemic response on the other.

Bennett described to Haaretz how Netanyahu tried to intimidate in order to deter him from joining Yair Lapid’s coalition:

“When he realized that I didn’t intend to let him drag Israel into a fifth election, he really threatened me,” Bennett said.

“You should know that I’ll send my whole machinery against you, the army,” Bennett recalls Netanyahu telling him. “I’ll send the UAVs after you, and we’ll see.”

Speaking to Walla, Bennett accused Netanyahu of “spreading chaos, hysteria and a lack of faith” in the government.

“Netanyahu built one of the most effective propaganda machines ever,” he said. “It invents stories at an insane pace. You know yesterday I found out my mom is Catholic.”

To Ynet, Bennett boasts he was the first leader to shut down air travel in the pandemic and claims he was the first to recognize the omicron variant, even before South Africa, where it initially surfaced.

“We recognized the extraordinary phenomenon even before the country where it was happening. I was the first leader in the world to inform the public about the omicron phenomenon. At that time, the disease wasn’t even here yet,” he said.

He also said that Israel has built a “radar” system to identify new variants early, without elaborating.