Israel’s politics witnessed a major shift on Sunday when opposition leader Yair Lapid announced he would join hands with former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett ahead of this year’s parliamentary elections, aimed at ousting the current prime minister. benjamin netanyahu.Lapid said the two leaders will contest the October election on a joint list, with a formal announcement expected later in the day. In a post on“This step brings about the unification of the repair block, allowing all efforts to be focused on bringing Israel to the much-needed repairs,” he said.“Unity among us is a message to all the people of Israel: The era of division is over. The era of repair has come,” Lapid said in another post.Both Lapid and Bennett have been vocal critics of Netanyahu’s leadership, particularly over his handling of the conflict through October 2023.The two leaders previously joined to form a coalition government in June 2021, briefly ending Netanyahu’s long tenure. That government fell in 2022, after which Netanyahu returned to power.

Who is Naftali Bennett?

Naftali Bennett is a right-wing Israeli leader and former Prime Minister who first came to power in June 2021 as part of a broad coalition government. A longtime supporter of Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, Bennett served as an adviser to Benjamin Netanyahu before emerging as a strong political rival.He is a former Israeli commando officer and a successful tech entrepreneur who sold his start-up for $145 million in 2005. Over the years, he has led several right-wing parties and built a reputation that appeals to parts of Israel’s younger generation, especially during the ongoing Gaza conflict. According to AFP, opinion polls now show that he is among the strongest challengers to Netanyahu in the upcoming elections.

Who is Yair Lapid?

Yair Lapid is a centrist leader and former Prime Minister who currently plays an important role in Israel’s opposition politics. After a successful career as a television journalist, he entered politics in 2012 and founded the Yesh Atid party, which went on to become one of Israel’s largest political forces.Lapid briefly served as acting Prime Minister in 2022 after Bennett’s coalition collapsed. The son of Holocaust survivor and former minister Tommy Lapid and writer Shulamit Lapid, he has since remained as a leading opposition voice. Netanyahu, 76, is expected to lead his Likud party into the election. He remains Israel’s longest-serving prime minister, with more than 18 years in office across multiple terms, AFP reports.Earlier in the day, Netanyahu warned that Hezbollah’s actions were undermining the ceasefire with Lebanon and promised a strong response. “It should be understood that Hezbollah’s violations are, in practice, dismantling the ceasefire,” Netanyahu said during the weekly cabinet meeting.“We are acting strictly in accordance with the arrangements agreed with the United States and, incidentally, with Lebanon,” he said.“This means not only freedom of action to respond to attacks, which is obvious, but also freedom to deter immediate threats and even emerging threats,” he said.However, Hezbollah rejected these allegations as baseless and accused Israel of violating the ceasefire. The group said it would continue to respond to Israeli actions and maintain its presence in southern Lebanon.