Overview
- Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shared an AI-generated video that depicts Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid as Arab lawmakers, sharpening a campaign fight over whether Zionist parties will rely on Arab factions.
- Surveys after the merger show the new Together list tracking in the mid‑20s in seats and the anti-Netanyahu bloc still below the 61-seat threshold without Arab-party support, which Bennett and Lapid say they will not seek.
- Hadash MK Ofer Cassif said he could support a Bennett-led government if its guiding principles fit his terms, signaling potential conditional backing from at least part of the Arab representation to unseat Netanyahu.
- Channel 12 reported that Bennett privately called Lapid “toxic” days before the alliance, a claim the Together camp dismissed as it pointed to momentum and framed the current coalition as the real “toxic” force.
- Former IDF chief Gadi Eisenkot has not joined the list and remains a possible ally, highlighting how Israel’s proportional system lets small parties decide who reaches the 61-seat majority needed to form a government.