{"id":440115,"date":"2026-05-13T19:30:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-13T19:30:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/440115\/"},"modified":"2026-05-13T19:30:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-13T19:30:09","slug":"naftali-bennett-yair-lapid-call-to-dissolve-knesset-form-constitution-at-kick-off-party-ev","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/440115\/","title":{"rendered":"Naftali Bennett, Yair Lapid call to dissolve Knesset, form constitution at kick-off party ev"},"content":{"rendered":"

Former prime minister Naftali Bennett on Tuesday called to dissolve of the Knesset<\/a> and outlined his plans for the country if elected, alongside opposition Leader Yair Lapid, at the first major campaign event of their newly merged Together party ahead of elections expected no later than October.<\/p>\n

Addressing thousands of supporters at a Tel Aviv expo, Bennett<\/a> pledged that a future government led by the alliance would establish a constitution, reform Israel\u2019s education system, draft haredim (ultra-Orthodox) into the IDF, and \u201crebuild\u201d the country in the aftermath of the October 7 attacks.<\/p>\n

Organizations said that approximately 3,500 people attended the event. As leader of the Together party, Bennett received repeated standing ovations from the crowd as he spoke about his plans for the country if elected prime minister.<\/p>\n

He and Lapid joined up on the stage and embraced.<\/p>\n

\"AA CROWD outside a Tel Aviv expo for the Together party, May 12, 2026. (credit: Chen G. Schimmel\/The Jerusalem Post)<\/p>\n

Together has been trailing Netanyahu\u2019s ruling Likud party in recent polls, and leads the opposition bloc seeking to replace him.<\/p>\n

Bennett has long been considered a right-wing figure, while Lapid has placed his Yesh Atid Party as centrist on the political spectrum; the two spoke on the importance of uniting the blocs.<\/p>\n

\"WATERWATER BOTTLES at the Together party’s Tel Aviv expo, May 12, 2026. (credit: Chen G. Schimmel\/The Jerusalem Post)<\/p>\n

Bennett said that Together would make bold foundational moves, and that the party would establish a constitution for the country \u201cin the spirit of the Declaration of Independence.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said that if, in 1948, when the Declaration of Independence was signed, \u201cthe far Left, the far Right, the religious, and the secular all managed to agree on that declaration; then [a constitution] is possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

He also said a government led by him would carry out \u201cbold economic reforms that will lower the cost of living.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bennet calls for education system reform<\/p>\n

At the core of Bennett\u2019s plan, he announced a reform of the country\u2019s education system<\/a>, which he said he was presenting for the first time.<\/p>\n

Bennett called to establish one education system for all Israeli children and ensure that haredi education institutions would include core subjects, such as math, English, and science.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will put an end to separatism. All Israeli children will study a broad shared core curriculum. They will learn Hebrew, English, mathematics, civics, Bible studies, Jewish and Zionist heritage. All Israeli children.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, it sounds imaginary. Believe me, it\u2019s not. Every Israeli child will be educated on the importance of military and national service. Every Israeli child will understand they are part of a Jewish and democratic state,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He also noted that the change would be done not by force, but rather by halting funding to \u201cschools that teach children not to serve the state.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will establish excellent, well-funded state-haredi schools. Those schools we will fund. The others we won\u2019t,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Speaking on the issue of drafting haredim into the IDF, Bennett said that his government \u201cwill integrate our ultra-Orthodox brothers into employment and military service with love and Israeli solidarity.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t let anyone tell you it\u2019s impossible to draft haredim. Of course it\u2019s possible. You\u2019ll see.\u201d<\/p>\n

When asked a question by a wounded reservist in the crowd, Bennett jumped off the stage and embraced him. He vowed that his government would ensure that wounded soldiers and those suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder would not be neglected and would receive adequate government assistance.<\/p>\n

Bennett criticized the state\u2019s treatment of wounded soldiers, saying the current system forces them to fight bureaucracy and hire expensive lawyers to secure benefits. \u201cThe state sent you to fight for us,\u201d he said. \u201cSo why is the state against you?\u201d<\/p>\n

He also vowed to establish a state commission of inquiry into government failures surrounding the attacks.<\/p>\n

Lapid lauds Bennett’s leadership<\/p>\n

Lapid took to the stage beforehand, where he expressed his full belief in Bennett\u2019s ability to be prime minister.<\/p>\n

According to the agreement between the two, Bennett would serve as prime minister for the full term, if elected, with no rotation government as was done after the 2021 elections, when their government was dissolved one year after its formation.<\/p>\n

\u201cCan Bennett lead a group of strong and good people who will bring the change that is as necessary as the air we breathe?<\/p>\n

\u201cThe answer is \u2018Yes,\u2019\u201d Lapid<\/a> told the crowd.<\/p>\n

\u201cHave we learned from the mistakes of the past so that this will be a strong and stable government? The answer is \u2018Yes,\u2019\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Lapid also spoke on the importance of coming together despite different political viewpoints. He noted that the country has been divided for four years, since the beginning of the current government\u2019s term.<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes, hope is born when two friends talk in the middle of the night and say to each other: \u2018Brother, we must save our country.\u2019 That\u2019s what Bennett and I did.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBennett and I don\u2019t pretend to agree on everything. He\u2019s a right-winger, I\u2019m a centrist, we have disagreements, and that\u2019s good,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

\u201cTogether is not just a union of parties. We are uniting the Israeli Center with the liberal Right in order to bring the State of Israel back together. Give us a chance, and we will win these elections and establish a government of light.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former prime minister Naftali Bennett on Tuesday called to dissolve of the Knesset and outlined his plans for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":440116,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[49,12186,42,74468,14406,21141,953,43,197282,40,38,41,39,19344],"class_list":["post-440115","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-benjamin-netanyahu","tag-haredi-draft","tag-headlines","tag-israel-elections","tag-knesset","tag-likud","tag-naftali-bennett","tag-news","tag-together-party","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-yair-lapid"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/440115","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=440115"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/440115\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/440116"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=440115"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=440115"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=440115"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}