TPC Staff
The Palestine Chronicle / August 22, 2026
Former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said Israel has lost the United States and world amid an unprecedented decline in international standing.
‘We’ve lost the United States’
Former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett has warned that Israel has “lost the United States” and the wider world, describing the country’s international standing as being at an unprecedented low.
Speaking Wednesday at a security conference organized by his B’Yachad [Together] party, Bennett delivered a stark assessment of Israel’s deteriorating international position, the Anadolu news agency reported.
“We’ve lost the United States, we’ve lost the world,” Bennett said.
“We are at the most terrible low point of Israel’s standing in the world since the founding of the state,” he continued.
Bennett argued that Israel needed to confront the deterioration in its international position, presenting the issue as one of the challenges a future government would have to address.
His comments came as Israel faces mounting international criticism over its wars in Gaza and Lebanon and amid growing political debate inside Israel over relations with Washington and other Western governments.
‘They are not winning anywhere’
Bennett also used the speech to attack the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over its conduct of Israel’s ongoing wars.
“The Netanyahu government does not know how to win anywhere — not in Gaza, not in Lebanon. They are not winning anywhere,” he said, according to Anadolu’s account of the remarks.
The criticism echoes arguments Bennett has made previously against Netanyahu’s wartime leadership. During the war with Iran earlier this year, Bennett similarly accused the government of failing to secure victory and later described Netanyahu’s handling of the confrontation as a “historic failure.”
At Wednesday’s conference, Bennett advocated a hardline military posture toward Iran while also calling for Israel to repair deteriorating relations with important constituencies in the United States and Europe.
Bennett and opposition leader Yair Lapid both emphasized the need to rebuild ties with American liberals and the European Union, according to The Times of Israel.
Bennett, himself a longtime supporter of Israeli settlements and military action, has increasingly argued that Netanyahu’s government has failed to translate Israel’s military power into strategic victories while damaging the country’s international relationships.
Bennett positions himself against Netanyahu
The speech came as Bennett positions himself as a major challenger to Netanyahu ahead of Israel’s 2026 parliamentary elections.
His political movement has joined forces with Lapid under the B’Yachad, or Together, banner, while former Israeli military chief Gadi Eisenkot has emerged as another significant figure in the opposition camp.
Bennett has increasingly sought to distinguish himself from Netanyahu on questions of leadership and strategy while maintaining hardline positions on many of Israel’s core security and regional policies.
At the same conference, he advocated Israeli military action against Iran in retaliation for Hezbollah attacks and accused Netanyahu of damaging Israeli society, while Lapid called for restoring Israel’s traditionally bipartisan standing in Washington and strengthening relations with Jewish communities abroad.
(TPC, AA, Israeli media)
