Overview
- - Former prime ministers Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid merged their parties into a single list called Juntos, or Yachad, with Bennett as leader and a goal of unseating Benjamin Netanyahu in elections due by October 2026.
- - Initial surveys reported by Israeli media show the joint list competitive with Likud, and in some readings larger than it, yet still below the 61-seat majority required to form a government in Israel’s 120-seat Knesset.
- - Bennett outlined priorities that include a state commission to probe the October 7, 2023 security failures, an eight-year cap on any prime minister’s tenure, and reliance only on Zionist parties rather than Arab factions.
- - The alliance is courting centrist figure Gadi Eizenkot, who polls suggest could lift the bloc above 40 seats, a level that could help it secure the first mandate to try to form a coalition.
- - Netanyahu remains a formidable rival as Likud holds steady in polls and his corruption trial appearance was again postponed for security reasons, while Bennett and Lapid revive a partnership that briefly replaced Netanyahu in 2021 before collapsing the next year.