Lapid Unveils Reshuffled Yesh Atid List Ahead of Knesset Elections

Yair Lapid, leader of the Yesh Atid party, has presented his party's list for the upcoming Knesset elections. The party will run as part of a new bloc called "Be-yahad" (Together), formed with former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett. Lapid described the list's overhaul as a "restructuring" and "generational shift" for the party, prioritizing lawmakers active in the current Knesset and introducing new faces, notably retired Major General Noam Tibon.

The "Be-yahad" bloc's formation means the current Yesh Atid list is not the final electoral lineup. Lapid retained the top spot, followed by MK Meirav Ben-Ari. Retired Major General Noam Tibon, former commander of the IDF's Northern Corps and Judea and Samaria Division, who participated in combat after October 7, is positioned third, marking his first Knesset bid with Yesh Atid. Former Social Equality Minister Meir Cohen is fourth, and former Mossad deputy chief and Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee chair Ram Ben-Barak is fifth.

Rounding out the top ten are Naor Shiri (sixth), who worked on the Knesset Finance Committee, Vladimir Beliak (seventh), also a Finance Committee member with economic expertise, Yorai Lahav-Hertzanu (eighth), who focused on environmental and LGBTQ+ issues, Yasmin Sachs-Friedman (ninth), and Neta Atias (tenth), who led the party's Knesset faction for a decade and is also making her first Knesset run. The list includes four women in its top ten and two new candidates, Tibon and Atias.

This reshuffling follows the departure of several veteran Yesh Atid lawmakers, including Meir Cohen, Mickey Levy, Karin Elharrar, Michal Shir, and Ron Katz. The party, which secured 24 seats in the 2022 elections, is now significantly smaller in terms of incumbent parliamentarians due to these departures and the alliance with Bennett, intensifying the competition for spots on the joint list.

The "Be-yahad" bloc's structure means the Yesh Atid list will not be directly transferred to the ballot. Preliminary arrangements place Bennett first and Lapid second on the joint list, with subsequent positions allocated between the two parties. Yesh Atid candidates are slated for positions 2, 4, 6, and 9 within the top ten, while Bennett's candidates will occupy 1, 3, 5, 7, 8, and 10. This indicates that even a high position on the Yesh Atid list does not guarantee a similarly high placement on the combined "Be-yahad" list.

Lapid emphasized the practical experience of his chosen candidates, stating, "If we want to fix the state, there is no better way than to empower these people." Bennett praised Lapid's "boldness, fighting spirit, and Zionism," calling the generational change within Yesh Atid "sensitive and wise." The final composition of the joint list is pending before the registration deadline, but the current lineup signals a significantly renewed Yesh Atid party under Lapid's leadership.