{"id":42887,"date":"2026-06-18T05:22:31","date_gmt":"2026-06-18T05:22:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/42887\/"},"modified":"2026-06-18T05:22:31","modified_gmt":"2026-06-18T05:22:31","slug":"netanyahus-rivals-are-joining-forces-would-they-shift-israels-security-policy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/42887\/","title":{"rendered":"Netanyahu\u2019s rivals are joining forces. Would they shift Israel\u2019s security policy?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jerusalem \u2013 Two of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu\u2019s top rivals announced they would join forces in an upcoming election<\/a> to oust his coalition government, with a focus mainly on domestic \u2060issues such as military conscription for the ultra-Orthodox.<\/p>\n

But on issues like Iran, Gaza and Lebanon, the joint party led by right-leaning\u00a0Naftali Bennett and centrist Yair Lapid is expected to pursue a security posture similar to that of Netanyahu \u2014 who heads the most right-leaning\u00a0government in Israel\u2019s history \u2014 meaning Israel\u2019s foreign policy would remain largely unchanged.<\/p>\n

The new party, called \u201cBeYachad\u201d meaning \u201ctogether\u201d in Hebrew, has not released a formal policy platform. But below is what is known about their positions on regional conflicts, based on recent public comments.<\/p>\n

Bennett, 54, and \u200bLapid, 62, have staunchly backed Netanyahu\u2019s decision to jointly attack Iran with the U.S., reflecting broad public support in Israel for the war.<\/p>\n

At the start \u200cof Israel\u2019s \u200caerial bombardment in Iran, Lapid said in an interview that it was a \u201cjust war against evil.\u201d<\/p>\n

Both Bennett and Lapid have \u200bsince criticized Netanyahu, 76, for what they describe as a failure to achieve Israel\u2019s main objectives in the war, including toppling Iran\u2019s clerical government.<\/p>\n

However, neither man has called for a resumption in fighting since Israeli and U.S. attacks and Iranian missile fire was halted by an April 8 ceasefire.<\/p>\n

A source close to their new \u2060party described Bennett and Lapid as \u201chawkish\u201d and \u201ctough on Iran.\u201d<\/p>\n

They are also \u201cpragmatic and understand the need for diplomatic agreements and the work that happens after the military use of force to \u2060achieve strategic goals,\u201d said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity to describe their party\u2019s priorities.<\/p>\n

Bennett and Lapid have also both staunchly supported Israeli military operations in Lebanon while questioning an April 17 ceasefire that has failed to halt fighting between the Israeli military and Iran-backed Hezbollah \u200bmilitants.<\/p>\n

Shortly before Israel\u2019s military invaded southern Lebanon in March, Lapid \u2060said that Israel must take whatever steps were necessary to protect Israelis.<\/p>\n

After the ceasefire with Hezbollah was announced in April, Lapid said the only solution was the permanent removal of the threat to northern Israel.<\/p>\n

Bennett sharply criticized the ceasefire, \u2060saying in an April 17 Facebook post: \u201cOne \u200bcan already count backwards towards the next round. Hezbollah began this morning to rebuild southern Lebanon and is \u200bbecoming stronger with missiles ahead of the next round.\u201d<\/p>\n

On the war in Gaza, where Israel has continued to carry out deadly strikes \u200bdespite a ceasefire \u200clast October, both Bennett and Lapid have criticized Netanyahu for not fully destroying the Hamas militant group after the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel that it led.<\/p>\n

In January, Lapid said…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jerusalem \u2013 Two of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu\u2019s top rivals announced they would join forces in an…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":42888,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[176],"tags":[19425,12261,7309,30515,14,29,30514,177,179,29808,449,30516,23608,180,178,30517],"class_list":["post-42887","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-politics","tag-benjamin-netanyahu","tag-gaza","tag-hamas","tag-hezbollah","tag-iran","tag-israel","tag-israel-hamas-war","tag-japans-politics","tag-japanese-politics","tag-lebanon","tag-middle-east","tag-naftali-bennett","tag-palestinians","tag-politics","tag-politics-of-japan","tag-yair-lapid"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42887","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42887"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42887\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42888"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42887"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42887"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42887"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}