From the Liveblog of
Sunday, April 26, 2026
Deri says Bennett-Lapid union is ‘brotherhood of hatred’
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleSam Sokol is a former political correspondent at The Times of Israel. He was previously a reporter for the Jerusalem Post, Jewish Telegraphic Agency and Haaretz. He is the author of "Putin’s Hybrid War and the Jews"
Former prime minister Naftali Bennett and Opposition Leader Yair Lapid’s new union is a “brotherhood of hatred,” Shas chairman Aryeh Deri declares following this afternoon’s announcement that the two former allies will mount a joint run for Knesset in 2026.
“A frightened Bennett is joining forces with Lapid, in an attempt to bring back the destructive government of the extreme left and the Muslim Brotherhood,” Deri says in a statement referring to their short-lived unity government in 2021, which included left-wing, centrist, right-wing and Islamist parties.
“Their common denominator is hatred of tradition and Second Israel — an attack on Jewish identity, settlement and Torah scholars,” he says, using a term some apply to Mizrahi Jewish communities, claiming they have been kept away from the centers of political and economic power by an Ashkenazi elite.
Bennett and Lapid’s short-lived government instituted a number of religious reforms, since repealed through Shas’ efforts, which weakened ultra-Orthodox control over the religious bureaucracy and empowered more liberal streams of Orthodoxy.
The Times of Israel Community.