Benjamin Netanyahu’s biggest rivals merge Israeli political parties
Former prime ministers Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid combine forces ahead of this year’s election
Former Israeli prime ministers Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid are to merge their political parties ahead of this year’s election, in a bid to unseat the long-serving Benjamin Netanyahu.
The dramatic move will probably make their unified party the largest in opinion polls ahead of elections that by law have to be held by the end of October. Netanyahu is aiming to secure a seventh term as prime minister when Israelis head to the ballot box.
Bennett, who will lead the new combined opposition party, was already running nearly even with Netanyahu’s Likud party before the merger.
“The unity between us is a message to the entire people of Israel: the era of division has ended. The era of repair has arrived,” Bennett wrote on social media platform X on Sunday, ahead of a planned evening press conference with Lapid.
The right-wing Bennett served as premier in 2021-2022 during a shortlived coalition government jointly headed with Lapid. The centrist Lapid subsequently served as interim prime minister for several months after parliament was dissolved amid defections from Bennett’s previous party.
Bennett, a former settler leader, served in multiple Netanyahu governments including as defence minister before falling out with the veteran prime minister.
After the collapse of his own premiership in 2022, Bennett left politics but is now plotting a comeback as a hawkish consensus option as the Middle East remains gripped by conflicts.
He has emphasised the importance of good governance and military service for all, as multiple corruption scandals engulf the current Netanyahu government, including the premier’s ongoing trial.
Bennett has repeatedly highlighted the manpower shortage in the Israeli army, and has criticised the ruling coalition’s insistence on exempting the ultra-Orthodox from mandatory conscription.
Lapid, who initially served as foreign minister under Bennett, is a longtime Netanyahu rival whose Yesh Atid party is the second largest faction in the current parliament.
As opposition leader, however, Lapid has drawn criticism from anti-Netanyahu voters for not doing enough to topple the current far-right coalition, especially during the government’s bid to undermine the independence of the country’s judiciary and after Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack.
Yesh Atid’s polling numbers have dropped precipitously over the past year, as Bennett and other anti-Netanyahu politicians gained in popularity, which analysts said explained Lapid’s readiness to hand the top job to Bennett.
In a statement on Sunday, Lapid said: “This move is intended to unite the [anti-Netanyahu] 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 current Netanyahu ruling coalition is badly trailing the opposition parties in recent opinion polling, although rightwing politicians like Bennett have made public avowals that they will not join forces with Arab Israeli factions to gain a parliamentary majority. Without the support of Arab political parties, the chances of the opposition winning an outright majority in the upcoming election will, according to polls, be extremely tight.
It also remains unclear if the merger between Bennett and Lapid is a real political union or merely a “technical” alliance for the upcoming election, after which both factions will split once more.
Bennett’s party, founded last year, still has no official name and only three other candidates on its list.
Lapid founded Yesh Atid over a decade ago, and it currently has over twenty lawmakers in parliament and a nationwide party machine.