Former prime minister Naftali Bennett on Sunday unveiled the first two candidates to join his party’s list in the upcoming elections, naming former government director-generals Keren Terner and Liran Avisar Ben Horin.
His party, Bennett 2026, has been trailing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud in recent polls ahead of elections expected no later than the end of October.
Terner and Ben Horin are the first members of Bennett’s party to be publicly announced. The appointment sparked sharp criticism from Likud, prompting Bennett’s party to file a pre-lawsuit warning letter against the ruling party.
Terner had served as director-general of the Communications Ministry, and Ben Horin served as director-general of both the Finance and Transportation Ministries.
Bennett said that Sunday marked the day he was beginning to unveil “Israel’s repair team, the best and most professional people in the country.”
He added that the two are among the most professional, experienced, and successful managers in Israel.”
Bennett’s 'Repairing Israel' project
“Both have successfully led major reforms in the economy, transportation, and communications, and they will do so again, on an even larger scale. Israel is stuck and poorly managed, and we don’t have time. With Liran, Keren, and the rest of our team, we will deliver the fastest turnaround Israel has ever seen,” Bennett stated.
The party stated that over the past year and a half, Ben Horin has been leading Bennett’s “Repairing Israel” project.
The project is described as a large-scale initiative to create foundational reforms, involving experts from Israel and abroad, senior figures in the Israeli economy, former senior public servants, and academics from Israel and the US.
“Over the past two years, I’ve led, together with Bennett, a project on a scale no political party has ever undertaken; we built a comprehensive plan to repair Israel,” Ben Horin stated.
“Alongside top professionals from Israel and around the world, we developed practical work plans to rehabilitate the country in every field. We are ready to get to work on day one of a Bennett-led government and start delivering for you,” she added.
The Likud party later issued a statement slamming Bennett’s decision to include Terner, citing her past involvement with the Brothers and Sisters in Arms organization, a protest group formed by reservists who demonstrated against the current government’s judicial reforms.
“Bennett’s true face was once again exposed today when he added Keren Terner from Brothers in Arms to his party, an organization that encouraged refusal to serve in the IDF, thereby weakening Israel and harming our security,” the Likud stated.
“Don’t say you didn’t know: just as he did last time, Bennett will once again form a government with the Left and the Muslim Brotherhood,” Likud added.
The appointment also drew criticism from other Likud members, including Education Minister Yoav Kisch, who wrote on X/Twitter that Bennett “formed a government with the support of the Muslim Brotherhood, and now is adding to his list a senior figure from the ‘Brothers in Arms’ refusal movement.”
“There is no limit to what Bennett is willing to do for a position,” Kisch added.
The Likud statements referred to when Bennett became prime minister in June 2021, forming the first government in Israel’s history to include an Arab party, with the Ra’am party joining the coalition in a highly controversial move. His government collapsed a year later, after which Bennett stepped away from political life.
In a move to return to politics ahead of the upcoming elections, Bennett officially registered his new party, Bennett 2026, in April 2025.
Since then, Bennett has said he would not form another government with Arab parties and would only partner with Zionist parties. He told The Jerusalem Post last month in an interview that he would only form a government with those who serve in the IDF, effectively ruling out haredi (ultra-Orthodox) parties as well.
Bennett’s party pushed back against Likud’s criticism, saying: “This is exactly what the election is about: continued smear campaigns and chaos versus Bennett’s ‘repair team.’”
Bennett’s party subsequently announced that it had sent a pre-lawsuit warning letter to Likud alleging defamation against Terner.
Bennett 2026 stated that Terner was never an actual member of Brothers and Sisters in Arms and had never been involved “in any way, at any time, in calls for refusal to serve.”
Bennett’s party clarified that after the October 7 Hamas massacre in 2023, a civilian coordination center was established that assisted citizens, soldiers, and reservists, which was not engaged in politics.
The party defended Terner, stating that she “volunteered after October 7 with the Brothers and Sisters civilian coordination center.”
“In Israel’s most difficult days, when all state systems collapsed, and government ministers ran away, Keren Terner stood up to help Israeli citizens. This is exactly what Israel is missing, and we are proud of Keren Turner.”
“With people like Keren, we will fix what the current government has destroyed,” Bennett’s party concluded.