By Maayan Lubell
JERUSALEM, April 26 (Reuters) - 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 upcoming 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.
"This move is intended to unite the bloc, put an end to internal
divisions, and focus all efforts on winning the critical upcoming elections - and leading Israel forward into the future," opposition leader Lapid said.
Bennett's office said the new party will be called Together, and that he will be its leader.
JOINING FORCES ONCE MORE
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 survived barely 18 months.
Before that, they muscled their way into his 2013 coalition government in a move that left Netanyahu's traditional ultra-Orthodox allies out.
Netanyahu, Israel's longest-serving prime minister, made a comeback when he won the November 2022 election and formed the most right-wing government in Israel's history.
But Hamas' 2023 attack on southern Israel, which plunged the Middle East into turmoil and saw Israel fighting on multiple fronts, left Netanyahu's security credentials in tatters and polls since then have successively predicted that he will lose the next election, due by the end of October.
Netanyahu, a polarising figure at home and abroad and the most dominant Israeli politician of his generation, has shown remarkable political survival skills in the past, however.
SHIFTING POLITICAL MAP
Bennett, 54, a pugnacious former army commando turned tech millionaire has been trailing Netanyahu in election polls. An April 23 survey by Israel's N12 News found Bennett securing 21 of the Knesset's 120 seats, against 25 seats for Netanyahu's Likud.
It found Lapid's party securing only seven seats, down from the 24 it currently holds, but with Netanyahu's coalition of right-wing and religious parties commanding only 50 seats, against at least 60 seats for Bennett and Lapid's likely coalition that would include several smaller factions.
The survey was on par with previous polls by academic institutions and other Israeli media, which have put Bennett as the top contender against Netanyahu, though the political map could still shift and change.
Lapid, 62, a telegenic former TV news anchor who writes pop songs and thrillers, speaks as the voice of Israel's secular middle class, which has become increasingly incensed by what it sees as an unfair tax and military service burden.
Netanyahu's ultra-religious political allies have been seeking an exemption for their communities - who have low employment and many state benefits - from the conscript military.
It is a hot-button issue in Israel that has become all the more pressing since the military has warned of being over-stretched and with the last two years exacting the highest military death toll in decades.
Both Lapid and Bennett have made it a central issue for their campaign. They have also criticised Netanyahu for failing to leverage military gains into strategic wins over Iran and the groups it supports in Lebanon and Gaza - Hezbollah and Hamas.
(Reporting by Maayan Lubell;Editing by Helen Popper)
