Trump Shares Poll Favoring Netanyahu Bloc on Social Media

Former U.S. President Donald Trump shared a Newsmax article on his Truth Social platform that highlighted a poll predicting a lead for the bloc supporting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The poll, originally published by Israel's Channel 13 last week, indicated that Netanyahu's Likud party would receive 18 seats in the Knesset. The far-right Otzma Yehudit and Religious Zionism parties were projected to win 8 seats combined, while ultra-Orthodox parties would secure 14 seats. Ofer Winter's "Am Echad Yisrael" party was predicted to gain 6 seats, bringing the total for the right-wing bloc to 54 seats.

The poll also projected 50 seats for the opposition parties, with Benny Gantz's National Unity party receiving 22 seats, Yair Lapid and Naftali Bennett's parties together getting 12 seats, Yair Golan's "Democrats" party 10 seats, and Avigdor Lieberman's Yisrael Beiteinu 8 seats. Arab parties were expected to win 14 seats in total, with Hadash-Ta'al-Balad receiving 8 and Ra'am 6. The parties of Yoaz Hendel and Ze'ev Elkin were predicted to fall short of the electoral threshold.

This marks a shift from Trump's previous stance of avoiding involvement in Israeli elections. The shared article focused on the right-wing bloc's projected advantage, suggesting a potential endorsement or at least a favorable view towards Netanyahu's political future.