Welcome to What Matters Now, a weekly podcast exploring key issues currently shaping Israel and the Jewish World.

This week, we hear from former prime minister Naftali Bennett in conversation with founding editor David Horovitz and political correspondent Tal Schneider.

Speaking with ToI on June 11 at the campaign headquarters of Together, the new, merged party he now leads with former prime minister Yair Lapid, Bennett said Israel is facing “an existential moment,” and warned that another term under the current government would leave the country without a functioning economy, society or international position.

“Another four years with this government, we won’t have an economy, we won’t have a society,” he charged. “The Haredi issue will just crash us all. We won’t have an international standing anywhere. We have to act now.”

And so, this week, we ask Naftali Bennett, what matters now.

For further reading:

Bennett to ToI: ‘We’re at an existential moment. Another four years with this government, we won’t have a society’

What Matters Now podcasts are available for download on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was edited by Ari Schlacht.

Former prime minister Naftali Bennett (ToI) / Ultra-Orthodox Jewish men scuffle with police during a protest against military recruitment and call for the release of detained draft resisters outside a military prison near Kfar Yona, Israel, June 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)