New opposition alliance threatens Netanyahu’s grip on power ahead of Israeli elections

Former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and opposition leader Yair Lapid announced Sunday that they will merge their parties into a single electoral list under Bennett’s leadership for elections scheduled no later than October in a dramatic political move that could redraw Israel’s electoral map.

The alliance, expected to run under the name “Together,” is widely seen as the most serious opposition attempt yet to challenge Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s hold on power and potentially push him out of office.

In a joint statement, Bennett and Lapid said their parties – Yesh Atid and Bennett 2026 – would unite to direct “all efforts toward achieving a decisive victory” in the next vote.

The move comes amid strong momentum from opinion polls.

A survey published Friday by the Israeli newspaper Maariv showed Bennett’s party alone tied with Netanyahu’s Likud at 24 seats each.

The same poll gave Lapid’s Yesh Atid seven seats, meaning the merged alliance could emerge as the largest projected bloc in the 120-member Knesset with more than 30 seats.

A separate Channel 12 poll projected Bennett 2026 alone winning between 20 and 21 seats if early elections were held.

According to a March report by the Palestinian Center for Israeli Studies in Ramallah, Bennett’s political base lies in the liberal right, moderate religious Zionist circles and Israel’s technology sector.

He is banking on his image as a security-minded leader with economic credentials to attract right-wing voters frustrated with Netanyahu’s government.

Lapid, meanwhile, draws support from Israel’s secular centrist camp, particularly among middle and upper-middle-class voters in cities such as Tel Aviv.

His agenda focuses on governance, compulsory military service for ultra-Orthodox Jews and defending judicial institutions.

Together, the two parties create a broader electoral platform that could bridge the fragmented Israeli opposition.

The partnership revives a political formula both men tried before.

In 2021, Bennett and Lapid led the so-called “government of change,” which ended Netanyahu’s uninterrupted 12-year rule through a rotation agreement on the premiership.

That coalition succeeded in passing a state budget and briefly removing Netanyahu from office, but it soon collapsed under the weight of deep ideological contradictions after bringing together parties ranging from the far right to the far left along with the United Arab List.

Now, both men are betting that public frustration with Netanyahu, especially after the fallout from the Oct. 7, 2023 attack and the continuing political divisions inside Israel, could create a second opening.

The Israeli newspaper Haaretz said the new alliance significantly improves the opposition’s chances of reaching the “magic number” of 61 seats needed to form a government without Netanyahu or ultra-Orthodox parties.

But the biggest obstacle remains Bennett’s own right-wing base.

Channel 13 said the real test will be whether he can convince conservative voters to once again accept an alliance with Lapid, whom Netanyahu’s camp portrays as a symbol of the secular left.

Likud quickly attacked the merger, calling it “a new deception to steal right-wing votes.”

National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said Bennett was “selling his principles for the second time,” while Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich mocked the move as “a revival of the failed alliance.”

On the other side, opposition leaders welcomed the merger.

Former Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman called unity “the only way to end political paralysis and protect state institutions from collapse.”

Haaretz also praised Lapid’s decision to give up leadership in favor of Bennett, describing it as a “national decision” aimed at prioritizing the opposition bloc over personal ambition.

*Writing by Tarek Chouiref