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 Bennett,” a spokesperson for Bennett announced Sunday afternoon.

Addressing reporters in the coastal city of Herzliya several hours later, Bennett called joining with Lapid the “most Zionist and patriotic act we have ever done, for the sake of our country” and declared that “the era of division is over.”

Insisting that he and Lapid — the current leader of the opposition — were “racing forward to victory,” he also invited Yashar party chairman Gadi Eisenkot to join them, stating that “our door is open for you too.”

Bennett further insisted that he is a “right-wing, liberal Zionist” who will only rely on Zionist parties — implying he would not partner again with Arab parties — for his coalition and that all Israelis, even those who do not vote for him, will feel supported by the government.

“We’re not in the left bloc or the right bloc, we’re in the bloc of the entire Israeli nation,” he said.

Lapid, in turn, declared that he and his centrist Yesh Atid party were “setting ego aside and doing what is right for the State of Israel,” arguing that “to win the elections, the entire Israeli center must stand behind Naftali Bennett.”

“We are uniting today to win the elections and to establish a Zionist government, strong and stable. A partnership between the center and right, between religious and secular, between north and south — without draft dodging and without extremism,” Lapid said.

“Israel has the best people in the world. They deserve an efficient, functioning, honest government, one that invests in the working public that serves in the army, in reservists and their families,” he said. “A government that will provide security, focus on education, lower prices, fight corruption, and draft the Haredim.”

Bennett and Lapid worked together in 2021-2022 when they led a short-lived, diverse coalition of right-wing, centrist and left-wing parties, along with the Arab party Ra’am. Their new union will not officially merge their respective factions into one party but will produce a united list in the upcoming election, scheduled for no later than 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 Eisenkot’s Yashar 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. Sunday’s merger appeared to leave room for Eisenkot to join later, though the latter has sought to lead such an alliance himself.

Asked by The Times of Israel 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 — Bennett was dismissive, stating that “our joint move, Yair Lapid’s and mine, is a massive move. It is a bold move.”

“It’s a ‘whoever dares wins’ move, because when you truly want to fix things — at moments as difficult as the ones we are in, with a nation that is largely in post-trauma and needs to be lifted up — you don’t do it with hesitancy. You do it with great audacity. That is what we are doing tonight. This is only the beginning, and we will win big,” he replied.

Praise and AI-generated derision

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 party 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 party chairman Yair Golan, Yisrael Beytenu party 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.”

Ben Gvir posted an AI-generated image of Abbas officiating a wedding between Bennett and Lapid on X alongside his comment.

ברית האחים של בנט-לפיד חוזרת למכור את המדינה לתנועה האסלאמית. בנט היה שמאל קיצוני ויישאר שמאל קיצוני. pic.twitter.com/MaoEf71W8m

— איתמר בן גביר (@itamarbengvir) April 26, 2026

In a post on X, Netanyahu’s Likud party shared its own AI-generated image of Ra’am party leader Mansour Abbas driving a car with Bennett and Lapid, portrayed as children, sitting in the backseat.

“Even together, it is clear—Mansour is the driver,” Likud said. “It doesn’t matter how the Left divides its votes. In any case, Bennett and Lapid will go again with the Muslim Brotherhood alliance, the supporters of terrorism.”

The Bennett-Lapid government, which was in office from 2021 to 2022, made history by including Abbas’s Islamist Ra’am in its diverse coalition. 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.

At the “Together” press conference, Bennett recounted that Netanyahu, struggling to build a coalition after the 2021 elections, sought to include both Bennett and Abbas. Netanyahu, said Bennett, praised Abbas as “a great Arab leader,” met three times with Abbas, and claimed that a coalition with Ra’am would represent a historic “internal Abraham Accords” — the domestic equivalent of the peace agreements with some regional countries brokered by President Donald Trump in his first administration.

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.”

In March 2025, 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.