Bennett-Lapid Alliance Aims to Unseat Netanyahu

Two former Israeli prime ministers, Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid, have announced they will merge their political parties to challenge Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the upcoming elections. The move is intended to unite the opposition bloc against Netanyahu's coalition government.

The new party, called Together, will be led by Bennett, according to statements from both politicians and reported by multiple sources including HuffPost, TimesLIVE, and Al Jazeera. The alliance aims to put an end to internal divisions within the opposition and focus efforts on winning the critical upcoming elections.

The two former prime ministers served together in a rotation agreement as part of a coalition government that ended 12 years of Netanyahu's rule. Bennett served as prime minister for the first year until their coalition fractured, after which Lapid held the top job as caretaker prime minister for the final six months.

Despite ideological differences—Bennett is an Orthodox Jew with hard-line views toward Palestinians, while Lapid is secular and more moderate—they enjoyed a close working relationship during their short-lived coalition. Their alliance is aimed at uniting a fragmented opposition that appears to have little in common beyond their shared hostility toward Netanyahu.

Polls show Bennett as the top contender against Netanyahu, with an April 23 survey by Israel's N12 News finding Bennett securing 21 of the Knesset’s 120 seats, compared to 25 for Netanyahu’s Likud. Lapid’s party is projected to secure only seven seats, down from the 24 it currently holds.