Bennett-Lapid list pitches unity ahead of Knesset election

(Oct. 25, 2026 / JNS)

Former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett’s B’Yachad party told JNS on Sunday that it is optimistic about this week’s Knesset election, “in part because we know the people of Israel are the best in the world.”

The campaign said the Jewish state needs “better leadership that will put the needs of the public first.

“We are offering the unity the country wants and needs not as a slogan—we’re doing it. It’s in our very name,” it said. (B’Yachad is Hebrew for “Together.”)

It pledged to put “the people who have carried the burden of defending this country first.”

Bennett and former Prime Minister Yair Lapid announced the merger of their “Bennett 2026" and “Yesh Atid” factions on April 26. Bennett heads the joint slate, and Lapid holds the No. 2 spot.

The party’s platform calls for a state commission of inquiry into the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks that started the ongoing war. It also proposes an eight-year term limit for prime ministers and a universal conscription law.

“I’ve been through many elections, and so I know. It is clear the momentum is with us. After four years of chaos and destruction, what Israelis want and need is a government of proven professionals who will manage the country,” Lapid told JNS.

“Israelis hear this loud and clear, they want change—and on Tuesday, they’re going to bring it,” he said.

Bennett and Lapid formed a prime-ministership rotation agreement to lead Israel’s 36th government in 2021. Bennett took the first term, but the coalition dissolved just a year and a half after it was established. Bennett served as prime minister from June 2021 to June 2022, and Lapid replaced him for just under six months during the transitional period to the next election.