Ayelet Shaked: These are the Two Who Will Lead the Next Government

Ayelet Shaked, who served as a senior former minister in the Bennett-Lapid government, addressed the upcoming elections and noted that in her opinion, Naftali Bennett and Avigdor Liberman can together lead the next government. She made these statements in a conversation with Shirit Avitan Cohen on the "First Reading" podcast.

"I definitely think, and I've said this countless times, that Naftali Bennett and Liberman can together lead the next government," Shaked said.

Shaked, who was a senior member of the change government, served alongside Bennett who was Prime Minister and Liberman who served as Finance Minister. The government, which was a complex coalition of right-wing, left-wing and center parties, also included the Arab party Ra'am.

According to her, she is "certain that the constellation will be found," thereby expressing her belief in Bennett and Liberman's ability to join forces and form a government in the future.

Bennet's party has done relatively well in all polls including him in the expected 2026 Knesset elections, consistently winning second place among the parties, slightly behind Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party. Bennet's gains are primarily at the expense of most other leftwing parties including Yair Lapid's Yesh Atid, Benny Gantz's State Camp party, Avigdor Liberman's own Israel Beyteinu and others.

Despite this, the non-Netanyahu coalition has struggled to gain a possible majority in the polls without Ra'am, and Ra'am's current efforts to reform a Joint List with the other Arab parties may foreclose on a possible coalition of the sort that Bennet and Lapid had during the change government.