‘The religious Zionists carried the day,’ says Bennett

Naftali Bennett hints that he is proud of national-religious voters who abandoned him for Netanyahu, thus securing Netanyahu’s victory over Herzog.

“I was asked if I’m disappointed in our public, in the national-religious public,” Naftali Bennett tells his supporters in a post-exit poll speech, after coming in at a disappointing eight seats.

“And I tell you, the opposite. I’m proud of religious Zionism, because it’s a truly ideological public. It is called to settlement, and it comes through. It is called to national and social missions, and it comes through. This time it was called to a political mission, and it came through big time. Our public, as is its wont, took hold of the stretcher and carried the day.”

“The eternal people isn’t afraid of a long road,” he insists. “We’re running long distance. We are not afraid, and we don’t lower our heads. We raise our heads higher and higher. We love the people of Israel, the land of Israel. We, all of us, love the Torah of Israel and the soldiers of the Israel Defense Forces,” he says to applause.