Last weekend, two former Israeli Prime Ministers, Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid, issued a joint declaration. They are joining forces to create a new right-center party called “Together,” led by Bennett. This is supposed to create a large ‘liberal’ party to challenge Benjamin Netanyahu in the coming elections, which must be held by late October.
The two have had a brief experience of the premiership in 2021-22, when they banded together in a similar vein. At that time, it was under a rotation agreement – Bennett was supposed to have his premiership for two years, but merely a year later, his own base crumbled and Lapid got an early rotation stint as PM, for the following half-year, until yet another Netanyahu government was elected.
This time, the duo is also keeping a door open for Gadi Eisenkot (leader of the Yashar party, ‘Straight’), the mastermind of the murderous Dahiya Doctrine, who is also in the centrist opposition. Polling so far hasn’t shown that this unity ticket will help defeat Netanyahu.
But even if it did, it wouldn’t change anything meaningful about the issues that have made Israel an international pariah. Zionism, anti-Palestinian racism, and Israeli expansionism will not be on the ballot with any of these men running. In fact, on these issues there is a near consensus across the Israeli Jewish political spectrum. In the end, it’s a big show. If anything, the unity being featured in this ticket will be the unity in preserving apartheid.
United in anti-Palestinian racism
In his brief time as prime minister, Bennett was the most right-wing leader in Israel’s history, and yet Israel’s liberals mostly celebrated him because he wasn’t Netanyahu. But there is one decision he made in his first go-around that Bennett says he is not willing to repeat – the participation of a Palestinian party in his governing coalition. At that time, Ra’am (United Arab List), a conservative Islamic party, played a role in the government and Netanyahu’s Likud used it as a cudgel against the government.
So now, Bennett promises – no Arabs:
“The Arab parties are not Zionist and therefore we will not rely upon them.”
Nevertheless, this hasn’t stopped the Likud and further right-wing parties from already taunting Bennett and Lapid on the issue. Likud shared an AI image on X, where Ra’am leader Mansour Abbas is seen driving a car, with Bennett and Lapid looking like 10-year-old children in the back.
The text reads:
“Even together it is clear – the driver is Mansour. It doesn’t matter how the left divides its votes. In any case, Bennett and Lapid will again go with the covenant of the terror-supporting Muslim Brotherhood”.
Similarly, Netanyahu shared an AI video insinuating that Bennett and Lapid are really just Palestinians in disguise:
Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir, of the Jewish Power party, sang a similar racist tune, also with an AI image on X, depicting Bennett and Lapid getting married, officiated by Ahmad Tibi, from another Palestinian-representative party, Ta’al. The text: “The Bennett-Lapid covenant of the Brothers returns to sell the country over to the Islamic movement. Bennett was radical left and will remain radical left.”
But of course, Bennett is not of the radical left. He comes from the religious-Zionist background, and has actually boasted of killing many Arabs. Neither he nor Lapid will push back against these attacks, and will likely continue to throw Palestinians under the bus and promise to bar them from their governing coalition. Lapid has, in fact, proclaimed that the ticket aims to win over wide swaths of the Israeli public and is targeting the votes of “80% of Israeli citizens” . . . which just happens to be the percentage of Israelis who are Jewish.
So, it is really amazing to witness these Zionists gushing over their “unity,” as if they were performing some radical act, while they fall over each other on who can best exclude Palestinians from the picture.
United in Israeli expansionism
Beyond his vow to not work with Palestinian political parties, Bennett appears to be making his commitment to Zionism a centerpiece of his campaign.
“We will safeguard the lands of our country and will not hand over a single centimeter to the enemy,” Bennett has promised.
Some may be wondering what those lands are, and where exactly they’re located? They include, of course, Palestine from the river to the sea, and likely parts of Lebanon and Syria, for starters.
Sadly, for those looking to Yair Lapid to push back on Bennett’s aggressive stance from ‘the left,’ I have bad news for you there as well. Just a couple of months ago, Lapid agreed with the Christian-Zionist U.S. Ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, that the bible gives Israel the right to ‘greater Israel’ – including lands from Iraq to Egypt.
“I support anything that will allow the Jews [to have] a big, vast, strong land, and a safe shelter for us, for our children, and for our children’s children. That’s what I support”, Lapid said at the time. Asked “how vast?”, he answered: “However possible… Zionism is based on the bible. Our mandate of the land of Israel is biblical. The biblical borders of Israel are clear… Fundamentally, the great, big and vast Israel, as much as possible within the limitations of Israeli security and considerations of Israeli policy.”
So there you have it. And Lapid is supposed to be the moderate of the two. Lapid’s stated principle is “maximum Jews on maximum land with maximum security and with minimum Palestinians.” What a liberal!
The oxymorons of Liberal Zionism
Bennett has boasted that the unity ticket with Lapid was a “bold move,” and called it “the most Zionist and most patriotic deed that we’ve ever made for our country.”
Lapid agreed, somehow playing up Bennett’s “liberal” bona fides. “The entire Israeli center needs to stand behind Naftali Bennett,” he said. “Bennett is a prominent right-wing man, but he’s a liberal right-winger, decent, law-abiding, who has not sold out his values, not to ultra-orthodox blackmailing and not to corruption.”
Bennett confirmed that he is a “right-wing, liberal Zionist.” He spoke to the “entire Israeli nation”: “We’re not in the left bloc or the right bloc, we’re in the bloc of the entire Israeli nation.”
Bennett thinks he has finally cracked the code and found a way to be both a hawk and a liberal. He explains, “Security-wise, I am a hawk, and nationally, I am a liberal, and in favor of sitting with people from both the left and the right.”
And so in this sense Bennett has found the perfect running mate in Lapid, a partner who is both considered a liberal but is, in fact, a fanatical expansionist Zionist.
Zionism in Israel’s pariah era
But it’s important to note that the language Bennett and Lapid are employing is more than mere lip service. It plays a key ideological role.
When Bennett refers to himself as a “liberal Zionist,” he knows that he is also speaking to many American Jews, many of whom identify as liberals and Zionists, for whom that combination of terms is essential. Although the presentation of the new party was in Hebrew rather than English, this international constituency is a key audience for this ticket as many Americans are increasingly dismayed by Israel’s image abroad. Israel, with its genocide, has become tainted goods, and support for the country is at an historic low, even among American Jews. Bennett and Lapid are also aiming to rally support among those still holding onto the dream of a “liberal” Israel.
Bennett, with a past career as a high-tech developer in the U.S., has a feel for what is catchy for Americans and is not trying to rebrand his fanatical Zionism as liberal. That’s why he stressed within the first minute of his presentation of the new party, that it was about “a new era for our good country.” He is desperate to sell the good Israel.
Bennett and Lapid are running on a classical Zionist militaristic platform that is a bit less religious in its politics than the current government. They claim that they will work for a draft for all (including ultra-orthodox, some of whom have been exempted). They claim that they will initiate a committee to investigate the Israeli failures on October 7 2023, “to bring truth to the families and the whole nation of Israel.” They claim they will reduce the governance term to eight years. They claim that they will promote a “good and inclusive Judaism,” “without coercion.” This perhaps sounds good for Jews, but it is the same Judeo-centric Zionism that we know. In the end, what it means on the ground is “not hand over a single centimeter.”
Yair Lapid, whose former party was called Yesh Atid (“There is hope”), said at a point in his presentation: “This thing that you feel now, that you haven’t felt for a long time, that’s hope.”
I’m just not feeling it.
