On April 26 Naftali Bennett, long viewed as the principal challenger to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, announced he would merge his forces with Yair Lapid’s centrist-liberal Yesh Atid ahead of Israel’s October election. The joint list will be called BeYachad, Hebrew for “together.”
Bennett, who briefly served as prime minister in 2021–22 and previously led the Yesha Council representing West Bank settlements, hopes to pull right-leaning, anti-Netanyahu voters into the alliance, while Lapid brings secular and centrist backing. Observers say the merger is intended to present Bennett as a credible leader of Israel’s Zionist mainstream and to consolidate opposition strength.
Tal Schneider, diplomatic and political correspondent for the Times of Israel, argued that dwindling support for Lapid and the opposition’s need to avoid losing Knesset seats were key drivers of the decision. In Israel the largest party usually wins the first opportunity to form a coalition, and being positioned as the biggest party can be decisive even though becoming prime minister ultimately depends on assembling a coalition with a majority of seats. Schneider added that BeYachad’s prospects would improve if another opposition force joined — naming the Yashar Party led by ex-army chief Gadi Eisenkot as a possible addition. Eisenkot has said he has spoken with Bennett and Lapid and wants the bloc to maximize votes in what he called Israel’s most important election.
Early polls offer a mixed picture. A Walla internet poll projected BeYachad at 27 seats, lower than the 31 seats earlier polls had suggested Bennett and Lapid would hold separately. The same survey showed gains for Eisenkot’s Yashar (15 seats, up from 12) and for Netanyahu’s Likud (28, up from 24). Under that projection the opposition bloc would have 59 seats, two short of the 61 needed to form a government, while Netanyahu’s aligned parties would total 51. The remaining 10 seats were forecast to be split between Arab-majority lists: the Joint List with five seats and Ra’am (the United Arab List) with five.
Ra’am’s possible role remains controversial. In 2021 Ra’am became the first Arab party to join an Israeli governing coalition, taking part in the Bennett–Lapid government that also included right-wing figures such as Avigdor Lieberman. The current far-right coalition criticizes Bennett and Lapid for that cooperation, even though Netanyahu’s Likud reportedly also negotiated with Ra’am leader Mansour Abbas. Bennett has said he would not repeat such cooperation if he returns to power. Abbas’s 2021 remark acknowledging that Israel “was born a Jewish state and would remain that way” was seen as a historic concession by a party representing Arab citizens, and some voters and politicians remain open to renewed cooperation with Ra’am.
Schneider described some of the criticism of Ra’am as racist and said the ruling coalition often equates the party with terrorists despite no known operational links; she believes many opposition supporters would accept working with Abbas’s list again.
At their joint announcement, Bennett and Lapid invoked the example of Viktor Orbán’s defeat in Hungary. Schneider sees parallels between the two governments in perceived erosion of media independence, judicial checks, civil liberties and the right to protest, along with tight control over security institutions and parts of the media. That analogy gives the opposition a recent precedent for unseating a leader accused of consolidating power.
The Israeli–Palestinian conflict has been largely absent from the immediate campaign debate. Schneider says the October 7, 2023 Hamas-led attacks and their aftermath have left many Israelis skeptical about prospects for resolving the conflict, so politicians across the spectrum have prioritized protecting democratic institutions over advancing divergent Palestinian policy goals. Bennett has reaffirmed his refusal to permit a Palestinian state, signaling that even a government change may not produce significant shifts in the status of Palestinians in the occupied territories.