New Poll Shows Dramatic Tie in Israeli Political Blocs

A new poll conducted by News 13 reveals a dramatic shift in the Israeli political landscape, showing a near-even split between the two major blocs. If elections were held today, Gadi Eisenkot's "Yash" party would emerge as the largest single party with 22 seats, narrowly ahead of the Likud party, which would secure 21 seats. This represents a gain of two seats for the Likud and a loss of two seats for Yash since the previous poll, creating a significant shake-up.

Naftali Bennett's "Bechd" party is the third-largest in the poll, dropping one seat to 12 mandates, followed by Yair Golan's "Democrats" with 11 seats. The Joint List (Hadash, Ta'al, and Balad) garners 9 seats, while Avigdor Lieberman's Yisrael Beiteinu and United Torah Judaism each receive 8 seats. Shas and Otzma Yehudit both secure 7 seats, and the joint list of Bezalel Smotrich's Religious Zionism and Moshe Feiglin's Zehut obtains 6 seats.

Ra'am, led by Mansour Abbas, receives 5 seats following the addition of Yoav Seglovitz. Ofer Winter's "Am Israel" party crosses the electoral threshold for the first time, polling at 4 seats. Several parties, including those led by Chili Tropper, Yoez Hendel, Benny Gantz, and Gilad Erdan, fail to pass the 2.2% electoral threshold.

The poll also indicates a tie in the bloc standings, with the "Netanyahu bloc" and the "Eisenkot bloc" each holding 53 seats, while Arab parties collectively hold 14 seats. In a separate question regarding suitability for prime minister, Eisenkot leads Netanyahu by a significant margin, with 47% favoring Eisenkot compared to 37% for the incumbent.

Concerns about the physical safety of political leaders are also highlighted, with 39% of respondents expressing fear of physical harm to a candidate before the elections. Additionally, a question posed to Jewish respondents regarding religious soldiers' participation in operational activities in the presence of paramedics revealed differing views between secular and religious respondents, with a majority of secular respondents supporting participation regardless of religious objections, while a smaller percentage of religious respondents agreed.