On April 26, 2026, right-wing Israeli politician Naftali Bennett and centrist Yair Lapid announced the formation of a new party, officially named Beyachad (Together), to contest the upcoming legislative elections due by October 27, 2026. This political union is not the first joint venture between the two veteran Israeli politicians. Indeed, a similar attempt followed the 2021 Knesset election, when a coalition was formed that included Lapid’s Yesh Atid Party, Bennett’s Yamina Party, Benny Gantz’s Blue and White Party, Gideon Saar’s New Hope Party, and others who joined forces to defeat Netanyahu. Both Bennett and Lapid served as prime ministers in Israel’s 36th government cabinet on a rotating basis in 2021-2022.
The surprise April 26 announcement poses a serious challenge to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and has a realistic chance of unseating him as Israel’s longest-serving leader, given his ongoing legal battle over bribery and fraud charges, his divisive leadership on judicial reforms, his lack of accountability for security failures in 2023, and his inability to deliver on his domestic and foreign policy agendas, including faltering bilateral ties with Washington and still-remote prospects for achieving regime change in Iran. These failures have eroded his popularity, leading to a slow but steady decline in public opinion polls.
A new poll by Israel’s Channel 12, the first conducted since the formation of Beyachad, predicted that the new party would win 26 seats, one more than the Likud. As the Times of Israel reported about the poll, “Netanyahu’s right-wing bloc only garnered 50 out of 120 Knesset seats while the Zionist opposition parties received 60 and the Arab factions 10.” These numbers do not indicate a landslide, unbridgeable victory over the Likud. Nonetheless, they signal a potential challenge for Netanyahu amid turbulent and unpredictable Israeli coalition politics.
To improve their chances of defeating the Likud-led coalition later this year, Bennett and Lapid are seeking to broaden their coalition by inviting Gadi Eisenkot, former chief of staff of the Israel Defense Forces (2015-2019) and leader of the Yashar Party, to join their new party. Although Eisenkot is still considering their offer, his support, along with that of his centrist Yashar Party followers, would strengthen the Bennett-Lapid union and bring more moderate elements critical of Netanyahu into the fold. Eisenkot, who lost his 25-year-old son, Gal, on December 7, 2023, during the Gaza war, is widely known to be more forthcoming than Bennett and Lapid on the Palestinian issue, particularly on the two-state solution.
It is doubtful that Beyachad will be able to rise above the typical pettiness of Israeli electoral politics.
Whether broadening the parameters of their coalition would help Bennett and Lapid oust Netanyahu and his extreme right-wing allies remains uncertain, as Israel does not, at this critical stage, need new or recycled political faces. It needs a serious overhaul of its ideological Zionist underpinnings, which have failed to lead the self-declared “Jewish state” out of the existential crisis that it brought upon itself after the October 7, 2023, events. Indeed, some renowned Israeli and American scholars, including Omer Bartov, Dean’s Professor of Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Brown University, have concluded that Zionism has led Israel to commit genocide in Gaza and consequently has lost its capacity or role as an ideological basis for the state of Israel. While denying being anti-Zionist, Bartov still insists that Zionism must disappear.
Frankly, it is doubtful that Beyachad, the offspring of what is essentially a short-term political marriage of convenience between parties motivated by their rejection of Netanyahu and his failed “Netanyahu-ism,” will be able to rise above the typical pettiness of Israeli electoral politics and address the broader existential challenges brought about by Netanyahu’s Machiavellian leadership.
First and foremost, it is doubtful that Beyachad will be able to articulate a new Israeli policy vis-à-vis Iran. Indeed, although both were critical of Netanyahu’s handling of the war with Iran, Bennett and Lapid have not demonstrated serious initiative or leadership since that war began on February 28, 2026. They have not presented an alternative Iran policy to challenge Netanyahu’s failed adventurism, which has undermined regional stability and, in the long term, will only add challenges to Israeli national security.
Second, with minor, superficial exceptions, Bennett and Lapid have also failed to mount a serious challenge to Netanyahu’s genocidal policies in Gaza and the ongoing ethnic cleansing in the West Bank. If they win the next elections and form the next Israeli government, where would they stand on ending the Arab-Israeli conflict? Are they willing to engage in serious negotiations with the Palestinians to create a Palestinian state? Although Lapid has often wavered on the issue of peace with the Palestinians, particularly since October 7, 2023, Bennett has had a long-standing public record of adamant opposition to Palestinian statehood. He emphasized recently that he stands “against giving away an inch of land. I’m against a Palestinian state,” as he told the Times of Israel. Therefore, it is indeed doubtful that they will be willing to steer their new coalition toward peace with the Palestinians based on the two-state solution.
Bennett and Lapid have failed to mount a serious challenge to Netanyahu’s genocidal policies in Gaza.
Finally, where would Beyachad stand on racism, equality, and genuine democracy within Israeli society? Over the past two and a half years, the positions adopted by Bennett and Lapid reflected no substantive differences from those of Netanyahu and his minions, such as Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben Gvir, on equal civil and human rights for Palestinian Arab citizens of Israel, whose support they might need to govern after the upcoming elections. In fact, as Jack Khoury reported in Haaretz, voters in Israel wonder whether Beyachad will allow Arab parties, which represent 20 percent of Israeli citizens, to join the coalition or be willing to accept their direct or indirect endorsement to win a majority in the Knesset.
Therefore, before popping Champagne bottles and prematurely celebrating Netanyahu’s political demise, one must carefully examine the political makeup of the newly formed super coalition, its ideological orientation, and its readiness to fundamentally shift Israeli politics away from extreme religious ultranationalism, which rests on a commitment to regional military dominance and a denial of the possibility of peace with its Arab neighbors, particularly the Palestinians.
We wish Bennett, Lapid, and company well as they work to end Netanyahu’s political career. However, we are not optimistic about their joint commitment or their ability to advance genuine, just, and lasting peace in the Middle East.
The views expressed in this publication are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the position of Arab Center Washington DC, its staff, or its Board of Directors.
Featured image credit: Haim Tzach, GPO
