Netanyahu Rivals Bennett and Lapid Merge Parties to Challenge Israeli PM

Two of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's most formidable political rivals said on Sunday they were joining forces in a bid to oust his coalition government in the coming election expected later this year. The former prime ministers - right-wing Naftali Bennett and centrist Yair Lapid - issued statements announcing the merger of their parties, Bennett 2026 and There is a Future. "We are standing here together for the sake of our children. The State of Israel must change direction," Lapid said standing alongside Bennett at a joint news conference. Bennett said the new party will be called Together, and that he will be its leader. "After 30 years it is time to part with Netanyahu and open a new chapter for Israel," he said. Since his first term in the 1990s, Netanyahu has become a polarising figure at home and abroad. Bennett and Lapid have joined forces before, putting an end to Netanyahu's successive 12-year tenure in a 2021 election, only to form a coalition government that with a thin majority and deeply divided over major issues like the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, survived barely 18 months.