Former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett is seeking a political comeback with an ambitious vision for the Middle East: expanding the Abraham Accords, building economic partnerships with Arab nations and rebuilding Israel's strained international relationships, particularly with the United States.

For Bennett, whose American parents moved to Israel from San Francisco, the U.S. connection is both personal and political. The 54-year-old former technology entrepreneur, a familiar face on American television, believes his business background could help him work with President Donald Trump to advance regional diplomacy.

"Naftali Bennett is the right leader to strengthen Israel’s global standing, including among the American people, thanks to his proven track record of working with world leaders and bringing people together, both as prime minister and as a successful businessman," Bennett’s campaign told Fox News Digital.

"We are confident that our great friend in the White House, President Trump, and Israel’s allies around the world will welcome the opportunity to work with Bennett and the new government he intends to form. Together, we will revive the Negev Forum and expand the Abraham Accords, strengthening regional security and stability. That is why so many leaders across the Middle East and beyond who share a vision of a more secure, prosperous and stable region are eager to see Bennett lead Israel’s next government."

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"He was a businessman, not a career politician, same as me," Bennett told The Times of Israel in June, referring to Trump. "His worldview is, let's get stuff done. Let's look at results, not process. And that's precisely my view."

Bennett said he would aggressively pursue regional agreements through economic cooperation, seeking to build on the U.S.-brokered Abraham Accords. But while his ambitions overlap with Trump's regional agenda, the president endorsed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for re-election on Oct. 18.

Bennett also faces an unusual political challenge at home. His joint Beyachad, or Together, party with former Prime Minister Yair Lapid is polling behind both Netanyahu's Likud and former military chief Gadi Eisenkot's Yashar party.

A Channel 12 poll published Oct. 23 projected 23 Knesset seats for Eisenkot, 21 for Netanyahu and 15 for Bennett and Lapid.

Yet Bennett knows better than most Israeli politicians that leading the largest party is not necessary to become prime minister. In 2021, he took office despite his Yamina party winning just seven of the Knesset's 120 seats, demonstrating the power of coalition negotiations in Israel's parliamentary system.

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How a seven-seat leader became prime minister

Born in Haifa to American immigrants, Bennett served in Israel's elite Sayeret Matkal and Maglan military units before co-founding cybersecurity company Cyota, which was sold for $145 million in 2005.

He entered politics as Netanyahu's chief of staff, later led the Yesha Council representing West Bank settlements and served as economy, education and defense minister.

A religious Zionist and longtime opponent of Palestinian statehood, Bennett stunned Israel's political establishment in 2021 when he formed a coalition spanning right-wing, centrist, left-wing and Arab parties, ending Netanyahu's 12 consecutive years in power.

The coalition collapsed in 2022, leaving many former supporters accusing him of betraying his electoral promises.

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Einat Halevy Levin, a strategic advisor who has known Bennett for years, described a politician who has spent his time outside office preparing for a second opportunity.

"In 2021, he wasn't prepared. He hadn't built a governing party; he had built another election campaign," Halevy Levin told Fox News Digital.

She said she met Bennett at his home in November 2023, following the Oct. 7 Hamas attack, when he had decided to return to politics.

This time, according to Halevy Levin, Bennett spent years building a political organization, carefully screening candidates and developing the infrastructure needed to govern.

"I've known him since he was economy minister. He was always daring and full of creative ideas, but was more inclined to stick to his own views," she said. "He has undergone a transformation."

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A new Middle East vision meets old divisions

Bennett's regional ambitions reflect an approach to diplomacy shaped by his business experience, according to Halevy Levin.

She recalled attending a meeting with a senior official from a neighboring country who appeared astonished by Bennett's detailed knowledge of its economy and priorities.

"He wasn't looking at the country through a military lens," she said, describing Bennett's focus on identifying shared economic interests rather than approaching every regional relationship primarily as a security challenge.

In an interview with Israel's Channel 13 on Sunday, two days before the election, Bennett pointed to his meetings as prime minister with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, Jordan's King Abdullah II and UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed as examples of the diplomacy he hopes to revive.

He argued that Israel needs to present a new vision of a Middle Eastern renaissance and identified extremist settler violence in the West Bank as a major source of damage to its international standing.

"We need to eliminate Jewish terrorism in Judea and Samaria, and I say this precisely as a supporter of the settlement movement," Bennett said. "They do not represent the overwhelming majority of settlers, but right now this is the problem causing us the greatest damage internationally."

Bennett said he would direct Israel's senior police, military and intelligence officials to produce a plan within three days to crack down on extremist violence.

His foreign policy, however, remains firmly on the Israeli right.

On Iran, Bennett has promoted his "Octopus Doctrine," advocating direct action against Tehran rather than focusing exclusively on Iranian-backed groups.

"If Hezbollah fires at us, we strike Iran," he declared at an Aug. 19 policy conference.

On Gaza, Bennett opposes Palestinian statehood and supports maintaining Israeli security control until Hamas is disarmed. He has also proposed excluding Qatar and Turkey from Gaza's future arrangements while involving Egypt.

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Those positions raise questions about how significantly his government would depart from Netanyahu's policies.

Danny Citrinowicz, a senior researcher at Israel's Institute for National Security Studies and former head of the Iran branch in Israeli military intelligence, argued that restoring Israel's diplomatic standing requires more than a change in leadership.

"If Bennett thinks he can support annexing E1 (an area east of Jerusalem where planned Israeli settlement construction could further fragment the West Bank), oppose a Palestinian state, continue the occupation of Gaza and simultaneously meet with Sisi and Abdullah and attract investment to Israel, he simply doesn't understand the depth of the international crisis," Citrinowicz said.

Citrinowicz argued that without a fundamental change in Israeli policy toward the Palestinians, replacing Netanyahu would not be sufficient to restore the country's international standing.

His warning comes amid changing American public attitudes toward Israel. A February 2026 Gallup survey found 36% of Americans sympathized more with Israelis, compared with 41% who sympathized more with Palestinians, a statistically insignificant five-point difference but a significant shift from the long-standing pro-Israel advantage.

A comeback built on lessons from 2021

Beyond foreign policy, Bennett is promising a sweeping domestic overhaul.

In an Oct. 25 manifesto, he pledged to redirect 30 billion shekels in government benefits toward families who work and serve in the military, reduce food prices by 30%, establish a state commission of inquiry into Oct. 7 and introduce an eight-year term limit for prime ministers.

His alliance with Lapid gives him an established political organization, but he faces competition from Eisenkot and continuing attacks from Netanyahu, who has warned that a future opposition coalition could depend on left-wing and Arab parties.

With Israel's fragmented parliamentary system requiring at least 61 seats to govern, coalition negotiations could prove as consequential as the election results themselves.

Bennett has already demonstrated that political reality once.

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Now, four years after his first government collapsed, he is seeking to convince Israelis that the unconventional politician who became prime minister with seven seats has returned better prepared — and with a vision that could reshape Israel's place in the Middle East.

The Israeli military launched large-scale domestic military exercises on Sunday to counter surprise border infiltrations and ground raids across northern and central Israel, mobilizing multiple divisions and air assets amid rising regional tensions.

The drills, set to continue over 48 hours, came as an Israeli security expert invoked the 1973 Yom Kippur War, when Egypt and Syria used exercises to disguise preparations for a surprise attack, warning that escalating tensions in the region could in fact trigger what he described as a "dangerous miscalculation."

The large-scale maneuvers, the IDF said, involve the Northern Command’s 210th Division, the West Bank Division, and the Central Command’s 98th and 96th divisions, alongside the Israeli Air Force.

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The exercise, scheduled just ahead of Israel's elections Oct. 27, aims to "maintain the forces’ alertness and readiness, strengthen the ability to defend communities, and make full use of aerial capabilities for defense in the area," according to the IDF.

On Friday, the IDF said troops would practice "a variety of scenarios, including a surprise attack and infiltration into Israeli territory by air and land," incorporating lessons learned from the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attacks on Israel.

"This exercise is mostly about non-state actors with or without Iranian support," Israeli national security analyst Dr. Ehud Eilam told Fox News Digital.

"It's aimed at those in Syria, Lebanon, and Jordan who might try to infiltrate into Israel or send ground raids. Some are supported by Iran; others are not. It could be planned by Iran or be a local initiative."

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"This is a massive exercise, the biggest one in recent years, aimed at protecting the borders," the former Israeli Ministry of Defense researcher added.

"It's all about making sure that the election day on October 27 will run smoothly. It's also a message to Iran and others: don't try to provoke us during election day, so nothing will be disrupted."

The Israeli drills followed a show of force by Tehran days earlier, during which the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) fired roughly 30 ballistic missiles across two distinct weapon classes, according to reports.

That live-fire display highlighted Iranian strike capabilities and sparked renewed alerts about commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz and prompted the Israeli military to heighten its alert level while maintaining maximum readiness for a targeted strike against Iran.

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During a visit to the IDF's Central Command on Wednesday, Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir warned that the risk of escalation was growing.

"Given the numerous warnings across all fronts and the sensitivity of the current period, the potential for escalation has increased," Zamir said.

"To ensure better operational control on the ground, we have reinforced our troop deployments across all sectors, including moving the 98th Division into the area to strengthen security and stability."

"Part of mutual deterrence: a few days ago, Iran had their own pretty big exercise, and that was actually more intimidating as far as Israel is concerned because they launched missiles and prepared for a war with Israel," Eilam said.

"This exercise on Sunday and Monday is against Iran's proxies and allies at the border of Israel."

Sunday’s Israeli drill also followed an Oct. 19 mission in which Israeli fighter jets and aerial refueling tankers flew 800 miles across Syrian and Iraqi airspace to Iran’s border.

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Washington was notified in advance and viewed the maneuver as a non-kinetic show of force following the postponement of a broader strike package earlier in the month.

Despite the deterrence signals, Eilam warned that large-scale military exercises carry the "risk of miscalculation" and particularly when troop movements could be mistaken for preparations for an attack.

"During the Cold War, every time the Soviet Union or NATO carried out a major drill, having so many troops in the field meant they might attack if that was the intention," Eilam said.

He pointed to the 1973 Yom Kippur War, when Egypt and Syria used military exercises to help conceal troop buildups along Israel's borders.

Israeli intelligence largely dismissed the movements as routine drills, allowing the two countries to achieve strategic surprise when they launched a coordinated, two-front attack on Yom Kippur.

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"The classic example in Israel is 1973, when Egypt and Syria conducted a major exercise just before the war that turned into the actual attack," the analyst said.

"Israel and Iran are now watching each other very closely and both sides suspect the other might strike first," Eilam added before stating that there is the chance of what they call "miscalculation — that each side suspects the other and strikes first by mistake."

"It's all about sending messages to each other."

"It remains uncertain whether there will eventually be an Israeli attack on Iran because it depends on U.S. authorization," Eilam concluded.

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"Right now, both sides are signaling: 'We are ready, don't mess with us, but we don't want to start a war right now.'"

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's former spokesperson urged him Sunday to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin face-to-face in Moscow, arguing that his past business and political connections in the Russian capital from years back could help him negotiate a peace deal there.

Iuliia Mendel, who served as Zelenskyy's spokesperson from 2019 to 2021, told Fox News Digital that the former comedian had also made his first millions in Russia and should perhaps leverage those ties to pursue lasting peace.

"When Zelenskyy was an entertainer, he often performed in Moscow," Mendel said, adding that the Ukrainian president "knows a lot of people from Putin's elite."

"He actually professionally grew in Moscow and earned his first millions in Moscow, and today he pretends that he has nothing in common with them," Mendel said.

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"He needs to go to Moscow and needs to agree on compromises that are acceptable," she said, before adding that Zelenskyy "doesn't need to play his maximalist games and to play this noble actor."

Mendel's criticism came as Ukraine, Russia and the United States prepared for another round of technical-level peace talks, potentially in Abu Dhabi or Switzerland, in November.

U.S. envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner have helped lay the groundwork for renewed negotiations that officials hope could finally lead to direct talks between the two leaders.

Before entering politics, Zelenskyy had built a successful entertainment career. Beginning in the late 1990s, he performed with the comedy troupe Kvartal 95, competed on the Russian-language comedy program KVN and later worked as an actor, writer and producer in television and movies. 

From the late 1990s, he performed on Russian stages and at private parties and appeared in movies shown across former Soviet republics, Mendel claimed. 

She said that after Russia annexed Crimea and launched its war in Donbas in early 2014, Zelenskyy traveled to Russia to work on the comedy film "Eight New Dates" which was released in Russian theaters in 2015.

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According to a report by Business Insider, many of Zelenskyy's movies were also in Russian and were marketed to a Russian audience, David Dodson, an American movie editor who worked with Zelenskyy told the outlet.

"He was a well-loved comic, actor and performer in Russia, but after [the 2013-14] Maidan [Revolution], everything changed," Dodson said.

"People need to realize that Volodya’s movies were very big in Russia. Most of his market was in Russia. He’s always been a popular comedy star in Russia," Dobson also clarified to GQ when asked if he directed the former actor in "Eight First Dates" in Russia, released in 2012.

In 2013, the movie received the Russian National Movie Awards as the Best Russian Comedy of the Year.

In 2019, Zelenskyy also promised to relinquish ownership of a Cyprus-registered company operating a film studio in Russia after investigative journalists revealed that he and his business partners still owned three Russian companies, according to the Kyiv Post.

Zelenskyy's entertainment career made him a household name in Ukraine and other former Soviet republics before he entered politics and won Ukraine's 2019 presidential election with roughly 73% of the runoff vote on promises to fight corruption and pursue peace in eastern Ukraine.

Mendel argued that Zelenskyy's promise to bring peace at the time stands in stark contrast to the devastating war that has crippled the country and defined much of his presidency.

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"Zelenskyy became the president with 73% record support," Mendel said. "Because he promised to bring peace to Ukraine."

"And now he has been presiding for almost five years (over) the largest war in Europe since World War II. This shows a lot."

"When his country is bleeding, he needs to make a peace deal for his people," she said before adding that the leader "needs to put the interests of his people first, just for Ukraine to exist as an independent state."

Whether Zelenskyy should travel to Moscow has, in fact, become a flashpoint in efforts to arrange direct peace talks.

In 2025, Putin offered to host Zelenskyy for talks in Moscow, but the Ukrainian president rejected the invitation as Russian forces continued attacking Ukraine.

"He can come to Kyiv," Zelenskyy told ABC News at the time, saying he could not visit Moscow while Ukraine remained under Russian missile attacks.

In September, on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly, Russian journalists pressed Zelenskyy on when he would visit Moscow. He replied, "On a missile."

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Mendel, however, argued that personal animosity between the two leaders has become the main obstacle to diplomacy.

"Today there are diplomatic efforts to try to stop this brutal and bloody war that Russia started," she said.

"But what we see now is a personal opposition between Zelenskyy and Putin that continues to grow into constant escalation in which people suffer tremendously, Ukraine's infrastructure, energy grid, and businesses are in ruins, and refugees are fleeing."

Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. More than four years later, peace negotiations are deadlocked over territory, security guarantees and the terms of a lasting ceasefire.

Moscow has demanded territorial concessions from Ukraine, including areas Russian forces do not fully control.

Kyiv has rejected ceding sovereign territory and insists that any agreement include enforceable security guarantees against another Russian attack.

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Mendel went on to praise President Donald Trump's efforts to break the diplomatic deadlock, calling him the first Western leader to "challenge the status quo" and consistently push for an end to the war.

"For this reason, many Ukrainians place great hope in his ability to bring peace," she said.

"A sustainable peace deal cannot be reached solely between Zelensky and Putin; it requires the involvement and initiative of a strong third party to halt the ongoing devastation."

On Friday, the White House announced that first lady Melania Trump had helped broker a temporary ceasefire in Oleshky, a Russian-occupied town in southern Ukraine's Kherson region, to allow humanitarian aid deliveries, demining operations and civilian evacuations.

An estimated 1,700 to 2,000 people remain in the devastated front-line town, many of them facing severe shortages of food, medicine and other essentials.

The White House said the ceasefire would begin Oct. 29, although Ukrainian and Russian officials have indicated that operations could begin Oct. 27.

Pope Leo also reportedly spoke with Zelenskyy and Putin about the humanitarian crisis, according to Vatican News.

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"Melania Trump has become synonymous with the words of a saver and a hero, since she has brokered the deal for Oleshky," Mendel said. "This is something that is going to save around 2,000 people and that neither Ukraine nor Russia could have solved for months and months."

"That is why, you know, what Melania Trump has done is actually a case to show that where two men are fighting, a woman can actually save lives," she added.

"And this is the new approach that would show that peace really should focus on human lives, not on maps and territories."

Mendel also criticized the influence of Zelenskyy's longtime ally Andriy Yermak on his diplomatic approach, arguing that the Ukrainian president has favored confrontation over compromise.

"Mr. Yermak was teaching Zelenskiy to be a strong man in diplomacy. And what today we see is actually diplomacy that doesn't exist," she said.

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"It's a diplomacy of humiliation, diplomacy of constant threats, diplomacy of demands," Mendel added.

Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado made returned to her home country on Sunday after nearly a year abroad, re-entering a political landscape transformed by the U.S. ouster of Nicolás Maduro.

"I'm here. With you all," Machado wrote on social media, announcing her return for the first time since December. Her homecoming comes as Venezuela remains under the leadership of acting President Delcy Rodríguez, a longtime Maduro ally backed by the Trump administration, with no presidential election scheduled.

President Donald Trump, asked about Machado's return by reporters in Port Huron, Michigan, said he was unaware of the development but expressed hope for her safety.

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"I don't know anything about it, but I think she's a very nice woman," Trump said. "She gave me her Nobel Prize. So how can I say anything else? And I hope she's safe. She's a very nice woman. But we're doing really well in Venezuela."

Machado, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2025 for her peaceful opposition to Maduro's government, did not disclose her exact location or provide details about how she returned.

Fellow opposition leader Edmundo González, who ran for president in 2024 after Machado was barred from seeking office, confirmed her arrival on social media and said he would join her "very soon."

"Today is a very important day for Venezuelans. Our sovereign voice returns with her to lead and guide this process!" González wrote on X. "You know it, this is until the end."

Machado's return comes nearly 10 months after U.S. forces captured Maduro in January, removing the longtime leader from power.

Rodríguez, Maduro's former vice president, has remained in power with the Trump administration's support, despite exceeding the period she was initially authorized to serve as acting president.

Trump has repeatedly praised his administration's relationship with Rodríguez, highlighting agreements involving Venezuelan oil production and other business ventures with American companies.

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In September, Trump said it was too soon to consider holding democratic elections in Venezuela, with U.S. officials prioritizing economic stabilization. Machado and her allies, meanwhile, have pushed for an election date, arguing that democratic governance is essential to the country's long-term stability.

Her return could complicate relations between the Venezuelan opposition, the interim government and Washington. Reuters reported in June that U.S. officials had asked Machado to delay her return.

Machado spent much of 2025 in hiding after being briefly detained following an opposition protest that January. She later secretly left Venezuela and resurfaced in Norway in December to receive the Nobel Peace Prize.

Meanwhile, a faction of the Venezuelan opposition and Rodríguez's government held another round of talks this month focused on reforms to the country's Supreme Court and electoral authorities ahead of eventual elections, Reuters reported.

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Machado's political movement has not participated in those negotiations.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.