New Poll Shows "Yisrael Beiteinu" Leading, "Blue and White" Collapses

A new poll released by Channel 13 on Wednesday evening indicates a significant shift in the Israeli political landscape. If elections were held today, Gadi Eisenkot's "Yisrael" party would emerge as the largest faction with 22 seats. In contrast, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party is polling at a low of 18 seats.

Following the top two, Naftali Bennett's "Bayit Yehudi" (Hebrew for "Jewish Home") party is projected to win 11 seats, while Yair Golan's "HaDemokratim" (The Democrats) secures an identical 11 seats. Three other parties are each expected to gain 8 seats: the Joint List, Yisrael Beiteinu, and United Torah Judaism, the latter showing a gain of one seat compared to the previous poll.

Among religious and ultra-Orthodox parties, Itamar Ben-Gvir's Otzma Yehudit is predicted to receive 7 seats, the same as Shas, which remains stable. Bezalel Smotrich and Avi Maoz's Religious Zionism party is projected to win 6 seats. Ofer Winter's "Am Yisrael" (People of Israel) party drops to 5 seats, matching the number of seats for the Arab party Ra'am.

A notable surprise in the poll is the Hendl-Zalicha party, which crosses the electoral threshold to secure 4 seats. Conversely, the ultra-Orthodox "HaTzibur HaHaredi" party and Benny Gantz's Blue and White party fall below the threshold, with Blue and White receiving less than 1% of the vote.

The poll suggests an opposition bloc with 52 seats, while the current coalition loses three seats from the previous week, totaling 51 seats. Arab parties hold 13 seats, and Hendl-Zalicha holds 4 seats.

In a question about suitability for prime minister, Eisenkot saw a record high with 48% support, while Netanyahu maintained 36%. Sixteen percent of respondents were undecided. Regarding preferred government composition, 31% favored a broad unity government, 29% preferred a "full right" government, and 25% supported a "full opposition" government.