Two of Israel’s most prominent opposition figures have joined forces in what could reshape the country’s political landscape ahead of elections scheduled for no later than October. Former prime ministers Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid announced Sunday they are merging their respective parties into a single combined ticket, creating what Bennett’s office described as a first step toward healing the state and uniting the reform-minded opposition bloc against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The two leaders held a joint press conference Sunday evening in the coastal city of Herzliya, formalizing an agreement that was reportedly finalized the night before. Their merged ticket will run under the name Together, Led by Bennett — with Bennett, the right-leaning former commando-turned-tech entrepreneur, heading the list and Lapid, leader of the centrist Yesh Atid party, accepting a secondary position. Bennett characterized the move as the most Zionist and patriotic step he had ever taken for his country, while Lapid called on the entire Israeli center to rally behind Bennett to secure a victory in the coming vote.
The alliance consolidates two forces that have struggled separately in recent polling. A recent Maariv survey showed Bennett’s party at 24 Knesset seats, tied with Netanyahu’s ruling Likud, while Lapid’s Yesh Atid had slipped to just seven seats — down from 24 it currently holds. An April 23 survey by Israel’s N12 News put Bennett at 21 seats to Likud’s 25. By merging, the two leaders are betting their combined appeal will exceed the sum of their separate performances, drawing on a model Bennett has pointed to from Hungary, where a fractured opposition defeated an entrenched incumbent by uniting behind a single candidate.
It is not the first time this pairing has challenged Netanyahu. In 2021, Bennett and Lapid led a broad coalition that ended Netanyahu’s uninterrupted 12-year run in power, forming a diverse governing alliance that included right-wing, centrist, and left-wing parties — and, in a historic first for Israel, an Arab political party. That government lasted roughly 18 months before collapsing over internal divisions. Lapid then served as caretaker prime minister until new elections returned Netanyahu to power in late 2022. Since then, Lapid has led the opposition in the Knesset while Bennett stepped away from frontline politics before registering a new party, Bennett 2026, in April 2025.
Bennett left the door open for a third major opposition figure, former IDF chief of staff Gadi Eisenkot, to join the slate. Eisenkot, who leads his own party, Yashar, and who polls show garnering around 12 seats, was himself the first to propose a three-way merger earlier this year. An opposition source familiar with the discussions said the deal left space for Eisenkot and described his potential inclusion as something seismic for the Israeli political system. Eisenkot said publicly that winning the upcoming elections is a shared goal and pledged to continue acting responsibly toward that end.
Netanyahu’s coalition responded with sharp criticism. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich dismissed the move as internal vote-splitting on the left, while National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir accused the combined ticket of returning to policies he characterized as favoring Islamist interests. Likud itself argued that the opposition’s reliance on Arab parties remains its fatal weakness regardless of how it arranges its slate.
For South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, who serves on the Senate Appropriations and Armed Services committees and has made multiple trips to Israel in recent months, the political challenge to Netanyahu represents a shift in the Israeli landscape he has been closely tracking. Graham traveled to Israel in January 2026 to meet with Netanyahu, describing the Trump-Netanyahu partnership as one of the strongest alliances in the history of the U.S.-Israel relationship and expressing hope that the alliance would continue producing results across the region. Graham, who is seeking a fifth Senate term and has made unwavering support for Israel a centerpiece of his 2026 campaign, spoke at a Greenville event in early April reaffirming his commitment to the country. Any change in Israel’s government following October’s vote would carry implications for the U.S.-Israel diplomatic and security relationship that Graham has helped shape through his committee work and frequent direct access to Israeli leadership.
Bennett, 54, has insisted his platform is not about left or right but about forming a government for all of Israel. He has pledged that under his leadership, a new government would establish a state commission of inquiry into the October 7 attacks, advance universal military conscription, limit the prime minister’s term to eight years, and pursue civil marriage and same-sex marriage protections. Those policy commitments reflect an attempt to hold together a coalition that spans Israel’s political spectrum, much as the 2021 arrangement did — though the current alliance is deliberately structured to place a right-wing figure at the top of the ticket to maximize its ability to peel away voters who backed Netanyahu in 2022.
