Story perspectives

Bennett, Lapid Launch “Together” Party to Challenge Netanyahu

4/27/2026

Summary

Story summary

Defense minister Naftali Bennett and prime minister Yair Lapid announced the “Together” party to challenge Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition in election due by October 2026.
News gave Bennett’s bloc 21 seats, Likud 25, and Lapid’s party seven.
Bennett pledged a commission of inquiry into the Oct. 7 Hamas attack and conscription, ending ultra-Orthodox exemptions.
Netanyahu posted a photo of Bennett, Lapid and Mansour Abbas on Telegram, warning they would repeat coalition.

History

Historical Context

The 1977 Mahapach, when Menachem Begin’s Likud won 43 Knesset seats on 17 May 1977 and ended three decades of Labor rule, showed how new alliances can topple entrenched majorities. Today the Bennett-Lapid-Abbas coalition challenges Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud-led government, echoing that historic shift and suggesting another possible realignment for security and conscription policy debates.

1 of 2

Story summary

Defense minister Naftali Bennett and prime minister Yair Lapid announced the “Together” party to challenge Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition in election due by October 2026.
News gave Bennett’s bloc 21 seats, Likud 25, and Lapid’s party seven.
Bennett pledged a commission of inquiry into the Oct. 7 Hamas attack and conscription, ending ultra-Orthodox exemptions.
Netanyahu posted a photo of Bennett, Lapid and Mansour Abbas on Telegram, warning they would repeat coalition.

1 / 2