This story originally appeared in the JC Israel Briefing. You can sign up to receive the briefing daily here.
Two of Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu’s biggest political rivals announced yesterday that they are joining forces ahead of an election later this year, in a renewed bid to unseat his coalition government.
Former prime ministers Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid said they would merge their respective parties, Bennett 2026 and Yesh Atid, into a single political bloc, called ’Together’, with Bennett serving as its leader.
Lapid said: “This move is intended to unite the bloc, put an end to internal divisions, and focus all efforts on winning the critical upcoming elections - and leading Israel forward into the future.”
The two have united before, despite being on opposing sides of the political spectrum on many issues.
In 2021, they succeeded in ending Netanyahu’s 12-year run in power, though their coalition government collapsed after just 18 months.
Netanyahu returned to power after winning the November 2022 election, forming what is widely seen as Israel’s most right-wing government.
However, the fallout from the October 7 Hamas attack and the subsequent multi-front conflict has damaged his standing, with recent polls predicting he could lose the next election, due by October, in what will probably be a tight race.
But a source in the Bennett camp expressed reservations, telling the JC: "This is a bad move. Joining with Lapid will only push away those on the right who may have finally left Netanyahu."
Both Bennett and Lapid have centred their campaigns on military service inequality and criticism of Netanyahu’s handling of Iran and its proxy groups such as Hezbollah and Hamas.
This story originally appeared in the JC Israel Briefing. You can sign up to receive the briefing daily here.
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