Jerusalem, Israel. Former Israeli prime ministers Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid said on Sunday they were joining forces to challenge Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition government in an election expected later this year.
Party merger announcement
Bennett and Lapid issued statements announcing the merger of their parties, Bennett 2026 and There is a Future. Speaking at a joint news conference with Bennett, Lapid said, “We are standing here together for the sake of our children. The State of Israel must change direction.”
Bennett said the new party will be called Together and that he will lead it. “After 30 years it is time to part with Netanyahu and open a new chapter for Israel,” he said.
Past political alliances
Bennett and Lapid have previously joined forces, ending Netanyahu’s successive 12-year tenure in a 2021 election before forming a coalition government. That coalition, with a thin majority and internal divisions over major issues including the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, lasted about 18 months.
Their coalition included, for the first time in Israel’s history, a party drawn from the country’s Arab minority, the United Arab List (UAL).
Before that, Bennett and Lapid joined Netanyahu’s 2013 coalition government, a move that left Netanyahu’s traditional ultra-Orthodox Jewish allies out.
Netanyahu’s return and current political outlook
Netanyahu, Israel’s longest-serving prime minister, returned to power after winning the November 2022 election and forming what was described as the most right-wing government in Israel’s history.
Hamas’ 2023 attack on southern Israel, which led to conflict on multiple fronts, damaged Netanyahu’s security credentials, and polls since then have predicted he will lose the next election, due by the end of October.
How do you think the Bennett-Lapid alliance will affect Israel’s next election?
