Former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, who worked briefly as a mediator at the beginning of Russia’s war with Ukraine, says that President Vladimir Putin assured him he would not have his Ukrainian counterpart assassinated.
Bennett emerged as an unexpected mediator in the early days of the war, becoming one of the few Western officials to visit Putin in a visit to Moscow in March.
Bennett’s mediation efforts may not have had much of an impact but his comments in a late Saturday interview that was broadcasted online provided light on the secret negotiations and hasty efforts that were made to resolve the situation as quickly as possible.
“I asked, ‘What’s with this? Are you planning to kill [President Volodymyr] Zelenskyy?’ He said, ‘I won’t kill Zelenskyy.’ I then said to him, ‘I have to understand that you’re giving me your word that you won’t kill Zelenskyy.’ He said, ‘I’m not going to kill Zelenskyy.’”
Bennett stated that he then called Zelenskyy to inform him of Putin’s promise. “‘Listen, I came out of a meeting; he’s not going to kill you.’ He asks, ‘Are you sure?’ I said, ‘100% he won’t kill you.’”
Also during the interview, Bennett said that during a meeting with President Joe Biden in Washington, the U.S. leader asked him “to promise me that you’ll update me on any action you take in Iran.”
Bennett recalled he had said, “Mr. President, there are going to be times when you’re not going to want to know about things, but generally speaking, I’ll keep you in the picture on the broad strokes of things.” JNS
Of what relevance is this? The country is going to h— in a hand basket and bottle cap is interested in whether or not a foreign leader will kill a different foreign leader?!
And he believed him? Crazy!
Bennett said this Bennet said that. Who cares what this “has-been” says. He sold out his voters and blackmailed the center left parties into giving him a stint a prime minister despite only having 6 seats. There was no-way his coalition could survive a fraction of its term with parties that had conflicting ideologies and agendas. The Bennet-Lapid led government was created to serve on purpose, remove Netanyahu from power. The anti-Netanyahu media tried to legitimise Bennet and pretend that he was a normal prime minister but everyone in power knew that you just had humour him and string him along and he his coalition fell apart and then Lapid would take over and Bennet would disappear. He was a lame duck prime minister from day one. You can’t compare him to Lapid who although he was a caretaker prime minister of a government headed to elections, he was still the leader of the 2nd largest political party in Israel and he was destined after the election to either remain prime minister or become the opposition leader. Lapid was a man with a strong political future, Bennett was just a greedy man willing to give up his principles for the glory of being prime minister.
“Putin Assured Me He Wouldn’t Kill Zelensky,” Bennett Recalls
When Bennett was asked if Putin also assured him that he wouldn’t kill Bennett, the former Israeli Prime Minister told reporters: “No, Putin didn’t assure me that, but I wore a bullet proof vest and metal protective headgear at all times while visiting Moscow. I also brought my own food with me, and I did not use any form of Public or private transportation while there.”
“I blocked the windows of my hotel room with Israeli-made bullet-proof glass,” Bennet said, “and I had a body double with me at all times.”
“Admittedly, I didn’t sleep too well in Moscow,” he conceded, “but at least I made it out of there alive, thank G-D.”
“Putin assured me”. When did Bennett meet Putin in real life, not CGI?