Former PM Naftali Bennett Shares Startup Photo Sparking Online Debate Over Details

Naftali Bennett, former Prime Minister of Israel and chairman of the Yachad party, posted a photo on social media on Monday showing the living room of the student apartment where he and his wife Gilat lived in Jerusalem. Bennett explained that this living room was the birthplace of his first startup company, Saiota, founded in the summer of 1999. Saiota was sold in 2005 to RSA for $145 million in cash. He recalled that at the time he and his wife were young students shortly after their wedding, with no initial capital, only big plans and dreams. The living room served as an office where he and his partners worked around the clock until they secured their first investment, allowing the company to rent offices and expand.

However, after the post was published, social media users noticed two notable details in the photo. First, the date imprinted on the film photo was February 20, 1994, about five years earlier than the period Bennett described. Second, a watermark indicated the image had been processed using Google's AI tool Gemini. Bennett's team responded by clarifying that the photo was only color-enhanced using Gemini and shared the original image. Regarding the date on the photo, they explained it was likely incorrect due to the camera's settings and confirmed the photo was taken during Saiota's active period.