From the Liveblog of
Wednesday, March 19, 2025
After Bennett’s treason allegation, PM’s party says he’s ‘spouting nonsense over a fake affair’
Sam Sokol is the Times of Israel's political correspondent. He was previously a reporter for the Jerusalem Post, Jewish Telegraphic Agency and Haaretz. He is the author of "Putin’s Hybrid War and the Jews"
Responding to Naftali Bennett’s statement that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu must resign over Qatari payments to one of his senior aides and accusing the adviser of possible treason, the ruling Likud party issues a statement dismissing the former prime minister as a “crook who stole the votes of the right and formed a government with [Ra’am party chief] Mansour Abbas and the Muslim Brotherhood.”
Bennett “brought Gazan workers into Israel for the first time since Operation Protective Edge,” the spokesman says, referring to a decision to allow workers in, which the current Netanyahu government maintained upon taking office.
He also “doubled and tripled the money for Gaza [and] is spouting nonsense over a fake affair that never happened,” Likud states, without offering any further substance on the merits of the allegations cited by Bennett.
“On every other issue, he is silent like a fish, and for good reason.”
In a lengthy post on X earlier, Bennett argued that Netanyahu no longer has any moral authority to send troops into battle and must resign in the wake of newly reported evidence that the salary of one of his top aides was paid by Qatar.
The Times of Israel Community.