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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
World
Peter Beaumont Senior international correspondent

‘Israel must change direction’: Netanyahu rivals join forces for next election

Bennett and Lapid wave to the crowd on stage
The former Israeli PM Naftali Bennett (left) and opposition leader Yair Lapid said it was time for ‘a new chapter for Israel’. Photograph: Gideon Markowitz/Reuters

The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, is facing the prospect of running against a rightwing-centrist super coalition in elections later this year after two of his most formidable political rivals combined forces in an attempt to oust him, inviting a third party leader to join them.

In a move that some analysts compared to the centre-right coalition that removed Viktor Orbán from power in Hungary, the former prime ministers – rightwing Naftali Bennett and centrist Yair Lapid – issued statements announcing the merger of their parties, Bennett 2026 and Yesh Atid (There is a Future).

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