Former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett has called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to leave office, saying his two decades in power have deeply divided the country.

“Netanyahu has been in power for 20 years… that’s too much, it’s not healthy,” Bennett said in a televised interview with Channel 12 aired Saturday. He accused Netanyahu of bearing “heavy responsibility for the divisions in Israeli society,” including over his handling of the ongoing Gaza war since Hamas’s October 2023 attack.

“Netanyahu must go,” Bennett declared.

Bennett, who briefly served as prime minister in 2021 after forming a coalition that ended Netanyahu’s 12-year rule, avoided confirming whether he plans to challenge him in a future election. His coalition with Yair Lapid collapsed within a year, leading to snap elections that brought Netanyahu back to power with support from far-right and ultra-Orthodox parties.

Although no vote is scheduled until late 2026, early elections remain common in Israel. Polls suggest Bennett, currently out of politics, could gather enough support to unseat Netanyahu again if he runs.

During the interview, Bennett also claimed credit for laying the groundwork for Israel’s recent strikes on Iranian military and nuclear sites, calling the decision “very good” and “needed.”

Regarding Gaza, he praised the military’s “exceptional” battlefield performance but condemned the government’s political leadership as a “catastrophe, a disaster.” He urged Netanyahu to reach a “comprehensive” deal to free all hostages held by Hamas and said eliminating the group should be left to a future government.

Bennett avoided questions about his own political comeback, keeping open the possibility of re-entering the race to lead Israel.