Bennett's New Target: "Real Likudniks Vote Bennett"

Naftali Bennett’s Together party is launching a new campaign aimed directly at disappointed Likud voters, following a viral video in which the former prime minister accused Likud of abandoning its traditional values.

The campaign will feature signs in Likud strongholds carrying the message: “A real Likudnik votes Bennett.” In the rest of the country, the campaign will use the slogan: “Israel needs a prime minister. Bennett.”

The Likud-focused campaign will target cities with historically strong Likud support, including Ashkelon, Rishon Lezion, Kiryat Shmona, Jerusalem and other areas. Bennett is expected to accompany the campaign with visits to those cities, along with field activity by Together activists.

The campaign is aimed at voters who supported Likud or other coalition parties in the last election but are now looking for a new right-wing political home following the failures of October 7, the government’s Haredi draft exemption push and what Bennett’s party describes as the government’s politics of division.

Bennett has spent much of the past two years touring Likud-leaning cities and speaking with voters who say they are disappointed with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the current ruling party. His campaign believes those voters could be decisive in the election, particularly if Bennett is able to pull support from the coalition bloc rather than only from existing opposition voters.

Polls in recent months have shown Bennett as one of the few opposition figures able to draw meaningful support from Likud voters. His party argues that this could allow the formation of a broad Zionist government based on what it calls the “serving alliance,” without relying on Arab parties.

The campaign comes after Bennett formally launched Together, the new joint slate created through his alliance with Opposition Leader Yair Lapid. Bennett leads the list, while Lapid has said he is willing to take a lower position if it helps expand the alliance.

In the video released Saturday night, Bennett appealed directly to Likud voters, saying he himself came from a Likud home. He said his late father and mother were Likud members and argued that Likud voters had remained loyal to their values, while the party had abandoned them.

“This is no longer the same Likud,” Bennett said.

He accused current Likud lawmakers of openly embracing criminals, supporting draft evasion for tens of thousands of Haredi men and turning government ministries into “job factories” at public expense.

Bennett’s message is likely to draw a sharp response from Likud, which has already been trying to portray him and Lapid as a recycled version of the previous anti-Netanyahu government. But the new campaign makes clear that Bennett is not only trying to unite the opposition. He is trying to raid Likud’s base directly.