Meet Gilat Bennett, the wife of Israel's new prime minister

• Author: MAARIV ONLINE
• Published date: 15 June 2021
• Date: 15 June 2021
• Publication title: Jerusalem Post, The: Web Edition Articles (Israel)

Here is a glimpse into the life of the prime minister's wife.

Childhood

Gilat grew up in Moshav Kfar Uriya, near Beit Shemesh. Her parents and family are secular. She attended Leyada and served in the Paratroopers Brigade as an educational NCO. There, as a 20-year-old, she met Naftali Bennett, then a student at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and a reserve officer in the Maglan commando unit, when she invited him to lecture to the soldiers.

Family

Gilat, 22, and Naftali, 27, were married a year later. "I was the only one among my friends who was married at 22," Gilat said. "But Naftali was observant, so there was no choice." The couple initially lived in Jerusalem and then moved to a settlement in the West Bank. They currently live in Ra'anana and have four children: Yoni, David, Avigail and Michal.

Career

Gilat studied culinary arts at the French Culinary Institute in New York and became a pastry chef. She completed her studies during the years that Naftali worked at Cyota, a hi-tech start-up. She also studied parental counseling at the Adler Institute and today works mostly in this capacity. Bennett herself was a parent who often sought out professional guidance and wanted to pass on her knowledge to others, she told the nrg news site.

Opinions

Gilat Bennett is known, along with her husband, as a right-wing ideologue. On a number of occasions, she made comments against former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu. In 2019, she wrote that Netanyahu was corrupt, accusing him of being unable to take on Hamas in the...