Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid announce united run under Bennett in 2026 elections

Former prime ministers Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid will officially unite their two parties into a combined ticket called “Together – Led by Naftali Bennett,” a spokesperson for Bennett announced Sunday. The spokesperson said the “merger of the Yesh Atid party and the Bennett 2026 party into a unified party” was the “first step in the process of healing the State of Israel.” “This move unites the ‘reform bloc,’ puts an end to infighting, and allows for all efforts to be invested toward a decisive victory in the upcoming elections and to lead Israel toward the necessary reform,” Bennett’s office added. Bennett and Lapid, the current leader of the opposition and the Yesh Atid party, worked together in 2021-2022 when they led a short-lived, diverse coalition of right-wing, centrist and left-wing parties. Their new union will not officially merge their respective factions into one party but will produce a united list in the upcoming election, currently scheduled for the end of October. A recent Maariv poll showed Bennett’s party neck and neck with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud with 24 Knesset seats, while Yesh Atid received 7 and Gadi Eisenkot’s Yashar party garnered 12. Bennett, who has previously said that his approach is based on advancing issues on which there is political consensus, had reportedly been in contact with Lapid and Eisenkot to discuss the potential formation of a new joint party called “New Israel.” Eisenkot was first reported to have proposed a merger in January with Bennett and Lapid, both of whom have courted the former IDF chief of staff for their own parties. Speaking with The Times of Israel on Sunday afternoon, an opposition source with knowledge of the matter said that there was still room for Eisenkot to join the united slate. “The deal was finalized on Saturday night. The door is definitely open for Gadi Eisenkot to join. Gadi’s a good guy. He could be a central player in this and he’s the one who called for the three-way merger of the parties. He’s been an advocate for it, so we certainly hope he joins. But this thing in and of itself is big and important and seismic in the Israeli political system,” the source stated. Asked about recent polls showing that if Eisenkot, Lapid and Bennett were to run together, their combined ticket would become the largest faction in the Knesset — though it would not significantly change the respective sizes of the two main rival blocs — the source indicated belief that in the end, a united slate will be greater than the sum of its parts. “There’s an element of it creating a sense of hope. It gives people something to believe in. It allows us to focus all our resources and our attention on winning the election, rather than the primaries in the bloc. It creates a wave of hope and positivity, which we hope will push everything forward. That’s what happened in Hungary. In the end, the polls were way off in Hungary,” the source asserted. Eisenkot joined other opposition figures in lauding the merger, while framing it as part of a wider effort to unseat the current government. “The goal of winning the critical elections ahead of us is a shared one,” Eisenkot wrote, calling Bennett and Lapid “partners” and pledging to continue acting “responsibly and wisely” to achieve “the victory and change required for the State of Israel.” Blue and White leader Benny Gantz also welcomed the move, but said that “the real connection” Israel requires is “between all segments of the people — without boycotts and without hatred” and that only a “broad Zionist unity government” that excludes extremists can move the country forward. Gantz has previously sought to promote the formation of a broad-based government and, unlike other opposition parties, is open to sitting with Netanyahu. The Democrats chairman Yair Golan, Yisrael Beytenu chairman Avigdor Liberman and Reservists party chairman Yoaz Hendel also wished the new party well, while members of Netanyahu’s coalition accused Lapid and Bennett of creating an opening for Islamists to enter the halls of power. “The Bennett-Lapid ‘brotherhood alliance’ is back to selling the country to the Islamic movement,” declared National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir. “Bennett was a radical leftist and will remain a radical leftist.” The Bennett-Lapid government, which was in office from 2021 to 2022, made history by including the Islamist Ra’am party, led by Mansour Abbas, in its diverse coalition of right-wing, centrist and left-wing parties. The coalition marked the first interruption of Netanyahu’s premiership since 2009, and many on the right staunchly opposed it and pressured members of Bennett’s Yamina party to leave. They succeeded after a year, when party MKs toppled the government, triggering elections that returned Netanyahu to office. Similarly, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich posted on X a picture of Bennett and Lapid smiling alongside Abbas, writing, “I’m not telling the left how to split their votes. [This is the] Abbas servant alliance.” Last March, Bennett told a private audience of US students that a future government under his leadership would not include Arab parties, as his previous government had, saying this was a time for Zionist parties to lead Israel. Bennett’s political career was long associated with the hawkish, pro-settler and nationalist ideological space, but he has gradually shifted toward the center, most recently coming out in favor of public transportation on Shabbat and civil marriage. Speaking with the Kan public broadcaster last week, Bennett said he believes it is “super critical that we unite in the Zionist-liberal bloc of the opposition” based on the model recently seen in Hungary, in which a conservative ex-ally of former prime minister Viktor Orban swept him from power at the head of a largely liberal coalition of opposition parties. “In Israel too, if they try once again to bring someone who is not a right-wing figure, we will lose as we have since 2009. Only a man of the right can defeat this government,” he said, confirming he had suggested to Eisenkot that they run together. “Security-wise, I am a hawk, and nationally, I am a liberal, and in favor of sitting with people from both the left and the right,” he told the network. Ariela Karmel contributed to this report.