American Jewish Immigration To Israel With Naftali Bennett's Family-Short-Time PM

 Nadene Goldfoot                                         

                    Naftali Bennett in 2021 when Prime Minister for a year

Former prime minister Naftali Bennett acknowledged that his Telegram account was hacked by Iranian-linked hackers, who published thousands of phone numbers and private messages attributed to him and his associates.  A Telegram account can be held by anyone in Israel, but the platform has been a battleground for information during the Israel-Hamas conflict, with Hamas-linked channels being restricted or blocked by Telegram (following pressure from Apple/Google) while Iran-linked hackers target Israeli officials, like former PM Bennett, suggesting active cyber warfare involving Telegram accounts. 

Update: 12/18o/25-2:08pm  Former Israeli prime minister Naftali Bennett confirmed that his Telegram account was hacked but insisted his phone was not accessed, the Jerusalem Post reported on Wednesday.

Bennett said in a statement that the device linked to the compromised account is no longer in use, according to the report.

Earlier in the day, the group, calling itself “Handala” and linked to Iran’s intelligence ministry, alleged it had hacked what it described as Bennett’s iPhone 13 as part of what it called “Operation Octopus.”  https://www.iranintl.com/en/202512179919

Naftali Bennett (Hebrew: נַפְתָּלִי בֶּנֶט,  born 25 March 1972) is an Israeli politician and businessman who served as the prime minister of Israel from 13 June 2021 to 30 June 2022, ( 1 year)  and as the alternate prime minister from 1 July to 8 November 2022. (4 months)  Bennett was the leader of the New Right party from 2018 to 2022, having previously led the religious Zionist and far-right political party The Jewish Home between 2012 and 2018 (6 years) .

Bennett's parents were raised in non-Orthodox Jewish homes and were progressive activists during the 1960s. His father was arrested while taking part in an anti-racism sit-in protest in 1964. They later began to observe Modern Orthodox Judaism and embraced right-wing Israeli politics. After moving to Israel in 1967, they volunteered for a few months at kibbutz Dafna, where they studied the Hebrew language, then settled in the Ahuza neighborhood of Haifa.

    Houses on the Carmel - Ahuza neighborhood (Photo: Yaron Karmi)  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gzv_sPr_12M

    Haifa, where I also lived for a year from 1980-1981 along the sea in an Absorption Center.   Bennett's parents were 13 years ahead of me as immigrants. Immigration from the US to Israel was low before the Six-Day War but spiked afterward; between 1967 and 1973, over 31,000 Americans made Aliyah (immigrated), with many arriving in the immediate aftermath of the war, transforming from anxiety to pride and identification, though the bulk came in the subsequent years, not just that single year. Total immigration to Israel in 1980 was around 20,428, mostly from the Former Soviet Union (FSU), with Americans forming a smaller portion of the overall inflow, though many Jewish Americans have strong ties to Israel, with some studies suggesting hundreds of thousands of Israelis live in the U.S., and significant numbers of Americans residing in Israel long-term. 

Actually, I found very few Americans making aliyah, so we were really inthe minority.  Russians came in large groups.  We found friends among the English, Dutch, people who spoke English.  We were older than  many.

Bennett was born in Haifa, Israel, on 25 March 1972. He is the youngest of three sons born to Jim and Myrna (née Lefko) Bennett, American-Jewish immigrants who moved to Israel from San Francisco in July 1967.  

Both his parents were from Ashkenazi Jewish backgrounds. His father's ancestors were from Poland, Germany, and the Netherlands. Bennett's paternal great-great-great-grandfather Julius Salomonson was from Łobżenica, Poland, and arrived in San Francisco in 1851 during the California Gold Rush. His mother's ancestors lived in Russia and Poland, and her parents immigrated to the United States prior to World War II. They later moved to Israel, joining their daughter's family there, and settled on Vitkin Street in Haifa, close to where Bennett and his brothers grew up. Some of his mother's family members who remained in Poland were murdered in the Holocaust.

Having failed to defeat us militarily, our enemies resort to terror and lies. There's not much that you and I can do about the terror, other than remaining vigilant and making sure our respective governments do the same. But there is much that we can, and must, do to combat the lies, hatred and vile antisemitism being spread throughout the world and poisoning the minds of the youth and so called "educated" classes. IsraelAM is a small, yet important, way we try to spread truth and light - - and a little but of light can illuminate a lot of darkness. Keep spreading the light!

Resource:

israelAM