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Former Israeli Prime Ministers Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid announced Sunday that they were merging their parties, Bennett 2026 and Yesh Atid, into a single party called Together, led by Bennett, in an effort to unseat Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the October 27 election.
The polls show the combined bloc commanding at least 60 Knesset seats, compared with Netanyahu's coalition's 50.
Bennett posted on X: "The unity between us is a message to the entire people of Israel: the era of division has ended. The era of repair has arrived."
Lapid announced the merger formally: "Former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and I will announce today the first step in the process of repairing the State of Israel: the unification of the Yesh Atid party and the Bennett 2026 party into a single party led by former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett."
"The move brings about the unification of the Repair Bloc, and enables focusing all efforts on leading Israel toward the necessary repair," he added.
An April 23 Israeli media outlet N12 News' survey found Bennett's party securing 21 Knesset seats to Netanyahu's Likud at 25, with Lapid's party at 7, but combined, a Bennett-Lapid coalition including several smaller factions was projected to command at least 60 seats against Netanyahu's coalition's 50.
Another Israeli media outlet, Maariv's poll, showed Bennett 2026 running neck and neck with Likud.
Prior polls by academic institutions have consistently placed Bennett as the top contender against Netanyahu.
Bennett and Lapid have collaborated before.
In 2021 they formed a broad coalition government that ended Netanyahu's uninterrupted 12-year tenure.
The government lasted 18 months before Bennett declared it no longer tenable in June 2022 and Lapid served briefly as caretaker prime minister before Netanyahu won the November 2022 election and formed what became described as the most right-wing government in Israeli history.
Bennett, 54, a former Israeli commando-turned-tech entrepreneur who sold his startup for $145 million in 2005, has become an outspoken critic of Netanyahu's handling of the wars since October 2023.
Once a Netanyahu adviser, he has, over time, become his strongest opponent, with a profile that resonates with Israel's younger generation.
Lapid, 62, a former television journalist and son of the late journalist and Holocaust survivor Tommy Lapid, founded Yesh Atid in 2012 and led it to become Israel's second-largest political force.
Both have sharply criticized Netanyahu for failing to translate military gains into strategic results against Iran, Hezbollah and Hamas. Lapid called the recent ceasefire with Iran "a political disaster."
Netanyahu plans to lead Likud's list in the October election.
At 76, he is Israel's longest-serving prime minister.
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