Two of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s most formidable political rivals said on Sunday they were joining forces in a bid to oust his coalition government in the coming election expected later this year.The former prime ministers - right-wing Naftali Bennett and centrist Yair Lapid - issued statements announcing the merger of their parties, Bennett 2026 and There is a Future.“We are standing here together for the sake of our ‌children. The State of Israel must change direction,” Lapid said standing alongside Bennett at a joint news conference.Bennett said the new party would be called Together, and that he would be its leader. “After 30 years it is time to part with Netanyahu and open a new chapter for Israel,” he said.Since his first term in the 1990s, Netanyahu has become a polarising figure at home and abroad.Bennett and Lapid have joined forces before, putting an end to Netanyahu’s successive 12-year tenure in a 2021 election, only to form a coalition government that with a thin majority and deeply divided over major issues like the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, survived barely 18 months.