Bennett vows to expel Qatar, Turkey from Gaza and hand their role to Egypt
The leader of B’Yachad party, Former PM Bennett unveils his security plan saying that Qatar and Turkey have been left to oversee security for Gaza Envelope residents,
Speaking at the B’Yachad party's National Security Conference on Wednesday, former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said the collapse of Israel's security concept on October 7 has not been corrected by the current government, calling it "the October 7th government" that remains "captive to the security concepts of October 6th." Bennett outlined a national security approach built on military, economic, diplomatic and internal strength.
On Gaza, Bennett said the idea that the Board of Peace, Turkey and Qatar can protect the security of Gaza Envelope residents is a flawed concept. He said Hamas should have been destroyed during the war but that the current government "simply gave up," adding that decisions about Israel's security are now being made "not in Jerusalem, but in Doha."
"We will remove Qatar and Turkey from Gaza and replace them with Egypt," Bennett said. "Whoever allows Qatar and Turkey to run Gaza is preventing the dismantling of Hamas."
The former prime minister stated that Hamas currently has more armed fighters than it did on October 7 and is rearming and training for future attacks. This as Israeli soldiers are barred from targeting armed terrorists absent a direct threat, Bennett argued. Under his leadership, Bennett said Israel would not move from the Yellow Line "until Hamas is completely disarmed and this weaponry is removed from Gaza."
Bennett also said Qatar should be formally declared an enemy state, accusing it of financing the October 7 massacre and working to undermine Israel from within. "Qatar is an enemy," Bennett exclaimed, calling on Jewish communities and allies of Israel worldwide to cut ties with Doha.
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On Iran, Bennett proposed reversing what he described as the current government's deterrence equation. "If Hezbollah fires at us, we will fire at Iran," he said, adding that his previous government had already struck inside Iran twice in response to proxy attacks. He said the goal should be to accelerate the collapse of the Iranian regime using political, economic and technological tools alongside military ones.
Bennett further called for mandatory military conscription without exemptions for ultra-Orthodox men, an overhaul of Israel's education system, and the creation of a national public diplomacy body modeled on intelligence unit 8200. He said Israel should also work to expand the Abraham Accords and pursue normalization with Saudi Arabia and Indonesia.