New Poll Shows Netanyahu's Coalition Losing Ground Amid Arab Party Unification

A recent poll conducted by Lazer Research and Panel4ALL for Maariv reveals significant shifts in Israel's political landscape following the official entry of Ofer Winter's "Amcha Israel" party and the unification of three Arab parties. "Amcha Israel," led by Winter, is projected to secure five Knesset seats, complicating the coalition led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The Religious Zionism party, headed by Bezalel Smotrich, falls below the electoral threshold with only 3% support.

The poll's seat distribution shows Yesh Atid leading with 25 seats, followed by Likud with 20, and the "Together" party with 15. Other notable results include the Democrats with 10 seats, Yisrael Beiteinu with 9, Otzma Yehudit and United Torah Judaism each with 8, the Arab alliance Hadash-Ta'al-Balad with 8, Shas with 7, "Amcha Israel" with 5, and Ra'am with 5. Without Winter's party, Netanyahu's coalition holds 43 seats, rising to 48 with it, while the Zionist opposition drops to 59 seats.

The combined Arab parties, including the triple alliance and Ra'am, total 13 seats. A critical finding is that no party from the so-called third bloc surpasses the electoral threshold, resulting in approximately 8% of votes, equivalent to about 10 seats, being lost. Parties failing to cross the threshold include Religious Zionism (3%), Zionist Home-Miluminim (2%), the Economic Party (1.5%), and Blue and White (0.6%).

In related developments, Netanyahu appointed Hadar Mukhtar as head of the young national religious sector's headquarters.