Bennett's speech at JPPI interrupted by audience heckling over Hamas policy

Former Israeli prime minister Naftali Bennett was interrupted on Sunday during a speech at a conference of the Jewish People Policy Institute (JPPI) after people in the hall challenged him over his government’s past policy toward Hamas. Journalist Michael Shemesh reported the incident.

The disruption came as Bennett used the address to attack the current government, against the backdrop of the Hamas massacre on Simchat Torah. He spoke about responsibility for what he called the country’s gravest security failure, saying, “On my watch, 1,200 Jews were not murdered and slaughtered, not on my watch, and when, God willing, we succeed in this mission, no one will be able to defeat us.”

At that point, audience members shouted back at him. “You accommodated it, you did not act against Hamas,” the hecklers were heard saying.

Bennett paused for a few seconds, then continued despite the interruptions and ended with a brief “thank you very much” before closing his remarks.