– Together, a joint list comprising Naftali Bennet\u2019s Bennet 2026 and Yair Lapid\u2019s Yesh Atid – broad center\u2013right alliance<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n – The Democrats, headed by Yair Golan – leftist<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Eisenkot\u2019s Yashar is a primary contender in this year\u2019s elections, with prospects of him becoming Prime Minister. He is a former general that served in Netanyahu\u2019s security cabinet formed after October 7. He reportedly had aided the IDF in creating the Dahiyeh doctrine. His reservist son was killed during the fighting in Gaza. Initially, he supported the wars in Lebanon, Gaza, and Iran but has since then changed his position. He believes the war has achieved its maturity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Bennett is a former prime minister, defense minister and special-forces officer who served in southern Lebanon. He has traditionally positioned himself to Netanyahu\u2019s political right on security and Palestinian issues. Lapid, also a former prime minister, is a centrist who negotiated the 2022 maritime-border agreement with Lebanon and is considered the opposition leader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Bennett and Lapid supported Israel\u2019s wars in Lebanon, Gaza, and Iran, but have since then criticized Netanyahu for failing to accrue strategic results. Both support continued pressure on Hezbollah and Iran. Lapid is generally more willing to complement military action with diplomacy. Bennett is a harsh critique of Qatar. His election could officially label Qatar as an enemy state. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The latest polls prove that Eisenkot\u2019s bloc is ahead of the Netanyahu bloc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The implications of the 2026 Israeli elections are overarching for Lebanon. A Netanyahu victory would consolidate Israel\u2019s military coercion technique, supporting the status-quo as the new reality. Diplomacy may continue but only in formalizing military gains on the battlefield, especially as Trump grows frustrated with Netanyahu. A return to fighting is also a potential outcome. Since 2023, Netanyahu has been able to garner support for his wars in Lebanon and maintaining a forward-security posture in the region could prompt attacks from Hezbollah.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Netanyahu\u2019s loss and the formation of a centrist or opposition-led government will potentially lead to more institutional coordination with Washington. It is likely that there will be greater willingness to negotiate a phased withdrawal and continue the pilot zones mechanism in southern Lebanon. Such a government could potentially seek turning tactical gains into political results, something the Netanyahu camp has failed at miserably. The three contenders for premiership see this differently:<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u25cf Eisenkot<\/strong> would support an eventual withdrawal if Hezbollah were verifiably disarmed and the Lebanese state or another credible mechanism could prevent its rearmament<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u25cf Bennett<\/strong> is the closest to Netanyahu on the Lebanon issue. He is unlikely to offer Lebanon a rapid unconditional withdrawal. He also believes the Lebanese state is too weak to disarm Hezbollah.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u25cf Lapid<\/strong> is the most receptive to diplomacy with the Lebanese state. He supports an eventual peace agreement between Lebanon and Israel. Lapid\u2019s model is disarmament followed by withdrawal and a peace agreement,<\/p>\n\n\n\n The final scenario, which seems less likely, is a political deadlock. For Lebanon, a caretaker Israeli government could be more dangerous than an outright win by either camp. This is because such a government would preserve the military status-quo, postponing political decisions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Israel\u2019s elections could alter the political landscape surrounding the country\u2019s current military occupation of over 640 km2 of Lebanese territory, through its self-declared Yellow Line. Despite a potential transition within Israel\u2019s political echelon, the Lebanese government should be wary of the outcome and not expect a fundamental change in Israel\u2019s security doctrine. Netanyahu\u2019s opponents are more receptive to diplomacy, but there remains broad Israeli public support for disarming Hezbollah and maintaining a forward-security posture in the region. The real question is whether Israel\u2019s security doctrine can change from endless coercion into a negotiated settlement.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Israeli citizens are set to head to the polls on October 27 to elect 120 members of the 26th Knesset. The elections will determine the governing coalition that will create a government. Sixty-one seats are needed for a majority. The contenders include three major coalitions: – Yashar, founded by former IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1148,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[46,47],"class_list":["post-1145","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-snap-analysis-en","tag-israel-en","tag-lebanon-en"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/polybloglb.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1145","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/polybloglb.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/polybloglb.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/polybloglb.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/polybloglb.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1145"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/polybloglb.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1145\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1152,"href":"https:\/\/polybloglb.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1145\/revisions\/1152"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/polybloglb.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1148"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/polybloglb.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1145"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/polybloglb.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1145"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/polybloglb.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1145"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/polybloglb.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Picture1.png\")
<\/a>What Israel\u2019s Elections Mean for Lebanon<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
<\/a>Bottom Line<\/h2>\n\n\n\n