New poll shows Eisenkot surging to 20 seats as Bennett and Lapid fall to 17

A new Channel 13 poll published Wednesday night, about four months before the election, shows a sharp reshaping of Israel’s political map. Gadi Eisenkot’s Yashar party continues its rise and reaches 20 seats, while Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid’s United party drops to 17. Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud remains the largest party with 22 seats.

The gap between Eisenkot and Bennett, Lapid, which had previously been just one seat in earlier polls, has widened to three. In the center-left bloc, Yair Golan’s Democrats get 11 seats and Avigdor Lieberman’s Yisrael Beiteinu also gets 11. Among Arab parties, Hadash-Ta’al wins 6 seats, while Mansour Abbas’s Ra’am is hovering around the electoral threshold with 4.

On the right, Itamar Ben Gvir’s Otzma Yehudit receives 8 seats, and Bezalel Smotrich’s Religious Zionism is also on the threshold with 4. The Military Reservists, Balad and Benny Gantz’s Blue and White remain below the threshold and would not enter the Knesset.

The ultra-Orthodox parties remain relatively stable, with Aryeh Deri’s Shas at 9 seats and United Torah Judaism at 8, together totaling 17. Under the bloc breakdown, the opposition bloc led by Eisenkot reaches 59 seats, just two short of the 61 needed to form a government, while Netanyahu’s bloc stands at 51 seats. Arab parties hold 10 seats in the bloc count.