“BeYachad” party chairman and former prime minister Naftali Bennett found himself at the center of an awkward live broadcast moment on Wednesday, accidentally claiming he previously served as IDF Chief of Staff during an interview with 103FM. The incident occurred when radio hosts Yaron Avraham and Moriah Asraf questioned Bennett on whether he trusts Mossad Director Roman Gofman and IDF Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir to prevent any unnecessary military campaign against Iran if such a move were weighed ahead of the upcoming election.
1+“I don’t know Gofman,” Bennett replied. “I have known Eyal Zamir for many years. We worked together for years, both when I was Defense Minister, when I was Chief of Staff, and also during Operation Protective Edge.” While Bennett previously served as Prime Minister, Defense Minister, and a member of the Security Cabinet during the 2014 Gaza campaign (Operation Protective Edge), he concluded his military service as an officer in the reserves and never held the post of Chief of Staff—the military’s supreme uniformed commander.
The interviewing duo did not pause to address the slip, with Asraf immediately following up: “Wait, so you don’t trust the head of the Mossad?” Bennett offered a non-committal response: “I simply don’t know him; I have no position.” The live blunder adds to a series of recent missteps by the “Together” party leader. Just recently, Bennett addressed a contested report published in Haaretz claiming Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu received a warning regarding Hamas’s intentions from UAE President Mohamed bin Zayed before the October 7 massacre, offering two opposing accounts within an hour.
1+Asked initially on Army Radio (Galatz) if he was familiar with the publication, Bennett said: “I am not familiar. If this thing is true, it is simply another terrible stain on Netanyahu and this government.” Barely an hour later, during an appearance on 103FM, Bennett reversed course completely, stating with certainty: “This fact is true. Sheik Mohamed bin Zayed of the Emirates warned Netanyahu that Sinwar was planning an operation.”
The claim was immediately debunked and categorically denied by the Prime Minister’s Office, which issued an unequivocal statement: “A complete falsehood. Prime Minister Netanyahu did not speak with the President of the United Arab Emirates during the period in question and received no warning whatsoever from him.”