As his campaign struggles to gain momentum in recent polls, Naftali Bennett has taken another step in preparing for Israel’s upcoming election by formally requesting approval to change the official name of his political party.

The request was submitted to the Registrar of Political Parties at the Justice Ministry by Bruria Naim Arman, the party’s director-general and a member of its executive leadership. The filing seeks to update the official registration of Bennett’s political platform to reflect its new campaign branding.

According to the application, the party has until now been officially registered as “Bennett 2026.” Bennett’s team is asking that the name be changed to “Together Led by Bennett – Restoring Hope.”

The move follows Bennett’s announcement that he will run under the “Together” banner alongside Opposition Leader and Yesh Atid chairman Yair Lapid.

The name change is a procedural step required under Israel’s Political Parties Law. Existing parties seeking to adopt a new official name must submit supporting documentation demonstrating that the decision was properly approved through the party’s internal governing bodies.

Using an already registered political party—commonly referred to in Israeli politics as a “shelf party”—is a widely accepted practice. Rather than establishing a new party from scratch, politicians often acquire or utilize an existing registered entity, allowing them to avoid the lengthy legal process involved in creating a new party. Updating the official name is one of the final bureaucratic steps before campaigning under a new political brand.

The filing comes as Bennett continues to lose ground in public opinion surveys. In most recent polls, his party has fallen behind the political faction led by Gadi Eisenkot, which now outpaces Bennett’s list in the majority of surveys.

Earlier this week, political strategist and campaign consultant Nevo Cohen suggested during an interview on the Galei Israel Radio program Pitachi V’Zimri Ba’am that Bennett could ultimately decide to withdraw from the race altogether.

“The likely scenario is that we’ll continue to see Bennett and Lapid collapse, and then the discussion will begin about when they fall into the single digits,” Cohen said, describing what he viewed as an increasingly difficult political outlook for the two leaders.

He went on to argue that their current standing is already weaker than many realize.

“By the way, they’re already in the single digits. Each one of them separately is already in the single digits.”

Program host Yotam Zimri observed that the trend appeared especially troubling for Bennett, noting, “This is Bennett’s decline, because Lapid was already in the single digits.”

Cohen agreed and predicted that the political and media pressure on both leaders would continue to intensify.

“That’s true,” Cohen replied. “Over the next two weeks, people will begin talking about when the two of them together reach the single digits.”

His assessment was based on a series of recently published polls showing continued erosion in support for Bennett and Lapid’s “Together” alliance, while support for Eisenkot’s party has continued to rise.

{Matzav.com}