Bennett: 'The clock for regime change in Iran will start as soon as the government in Israel is changed'
The former prime minister and Together Party leader leveled a sweeping indictment of Netanyahu's handling of the war, vowing to revive the "Octopus Doctrine" against Tehran if elected
Former Prime Minister and Together Party leader Naftali Bennett declared Monday that a countdown to regime change in Iran would begin the moment Israel's government changes hands.
In a sharply worded statement, Bennett attacked Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's wartime leadership. "The term of the Netanyahu government began with a civil war, continued with the massacre of October 7th, and ends with a historic failure against Iran," Bennett said. While praising IDF soldiers for displaying "extraordinary heroism and breathtaking cunning that will be studied in history books," he argued that the country's leadership had failed to match that sacrifice.
Bennett outlined what he said he would have done differently across four areas: politically, militarily, internationally, and domestically.
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Politically, he would have used Israel's relationship with the current US administration "solely for the benefit of the interests of the State of Israel."
Militarily, Bennet would have replaced Netanyahu's "spread strategy" with a return to "fast, strong, and decisive wars."
Internationally, he called for reinstating a national public diplomacy headquarters established during his own tenure as prime minister, which the current government dismantled.
Domestically, Bennet wanted to implement mandatory military conscription across all sectors of Israeli society and stop funding draft dodgers.
On Iran, Bennett vowed to revive what he called the "Octopus Doctrine," a strategy he said his government began implementing, aimed simultaneously at preventing Iran from going nuclear and accelerating the collapse of the regime through "political, economic, technological, and military tools."
"The clock for regime change in Iran will start as soon as the government in Israel is changed," Bennett exclaimed, adding that he expected Israeli voters to soon elect "a new, energetic, and determined leadership that will restore security to Israel."