Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid merge parties to challenge Netanyahu
Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid announced today they will merge their parties into a single faction to challenge Benjamin Netanyahu in Israel's 2026 election. Bennett will lead the new grouping, combining his right-leaning support with Lapid's centrist base, and both men previously served as prime minister under a rotation agreement. The alliance reunites the two leaders who briefly removed Netanyahu from power in 2021 and seeks to reshape the anti-Netanyahu vote. If the pact holds, it could alter coalition math and make it harder for Netanyahu to form a parliamentary majority.
The newly-founded leading opposition party in Israel has explicitly stated that they will never coalition with any of the Palestinian political parties, who represent 20% of Israel's enfranchised population.
#StupidSuez151In other words the leading alternative to Netanyahu is a Jim-Crow like political party.
glennmrobinson.bsky.social17I’d wager a lot of Dems will end up supporting this opposition and will pretend it washes everyone’s hands.
The bird says, "Prosecute ICE"8"The era of division is over. Also, we fully intend to divide ourselves from parties representing 20% of the populace." Man, that's some bullshit.
Morticia Feldman6Absolutely wild to run on a platform of "Netanyahu is not war criming enough"
halfapeanut.bsky.social3what good is democracy when the majority voting base is unhinged and bloodthirsty.
Led by Bennet, in an effort to unite !sr&l & unseat Net-a-yahoo, former Prime Ministers Naftali Bennett & Yair Lapid plan to merge their (center & right) parties If elected, on day 1, a state commission of inquiry into the Oct. 7, 2023 attack would be established, an issue that has dogged Bibi
Guardrails of Democracy49“There have been calls in Israel for a public inquiry into the failures around the Oct. 7 attack, Lapid urged Israel’s political center to unite behind Bennett, adding that “this country needs unity like air to breathe.” “
Christine Moretti4Please let it be the end of Bibi and accountability for his crimes.
Is it cope for me to be optimistic about the Bennett-Lapid merger on the grounds that it signals Bennett will follow certain Lapidisms after the election, like support for Ukraine? In the Change Coalition era, Lapid was the most pro-Ukraine Israeli party leader, while Bennett was still zigzagging.
Shani Aviram3Unless these ppl utter any anti corruption measures, i think theyll fuck us
Guy2Bennett and Lapid have been close political partners for more than a decade now, so I honestly don't think this will change much.
Alon (they/them)2I swear I'm about to go outside and touch grass before I start filking cringe Israeli patriotic songs for Ukraine or EU purposes. Instead of "blue and white, that's my color," the same but with "blue and yellow," cf. the Soviet Jewish dissident song: ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%9A%...
