The swearing-in of the new Israeli government headed by Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, a development that ended Benjamin Netanyahu’s 12-year consecutive tenure, has been widely reported on across the globe. Shortly before the vote of confidence on Sunday, Bennett stressed that his government would represent a broad cross-section of Israeli citizens, spanning “from Ofra [a West Bank community] to Tel Aviv, and from Rahat [a Negev Bedouin town] to Kiryat Shmona.”
Nevertheless, numerous media outlets have claimed that Bennett’s primary constituency comprises those Israelis who have been designated as ultranationalists or reside beyond what is commonly referred to as the pre-1967 borders.
For example, consider the following sentence that appeared in an article produced by the Associated Press: “Bennett, 49, is a former chief of staff to Netanyahu whose small party is popular with religious Jews and West Bank settlers.” [emphasis added]
Israeli journalist Noga Tarnopolsky took this contention one step further, writing in The Daily Beast that Yamina “mostly” represents “Jewish West Bank settlers.” Similarly, The Nation’s Jeff Halper suggested that Bennett’s base consists of “religious settlers.”
However, voter data from the March election that propelled Bennett to power proves that these assertions are flat-out wrong.
Join the fight for Israel’s fair coverage in the news
In fact, the vast majority of those who voted for Bennett do not live in the West Bank. Over 75 percent of the votes Yamina garnered were cast by Israeli citizens residing in towns and cities inside the Green Line such as Petah Tikva, Tel Aviv, Rishon LeZion, Netanya and Haifa. Another 14.5% came from absentee ballots cast by Israeli diplomats stationed abroad, soldiers, prisoners and hospital patients. In the March election, those in quarantine due to the coronavirus also voted using these so-called double envelopes.
Indeed, only 10% of the total votes Yamina garnered were cast in the West Bank. Moreover, only about 13 percent of all ballots cast by Israelis living in the West Bank went to Bennett. More specifically, Yamina received the most votes of any party in only 21 out of 126 Jewish communities in the West Bank. Far more popular were the Religious Zionism party (leading vote-getter in 51 localities) and Netanyahu’s Likud (37).
Therefore, the claim that Bennett “mostly” represents “West Bank settlers” is patently false. Stating otherwise constitutes yet another example of lazy journalism, further evidence of reporters once again relying on faulty narratives rather than bothering to dig into the numbers.
Facts, as always, reveal the true story.
