Gadi Eizenkot Surges to Lead Israeli Polls, Netanyahu's Likud Drops to Second

A new Channel 13 poll reveals a significant shift in Israeli political standings, with Gadi Eizenkot's party "Yashar" emerging as the largest in the Knesset if elections were held today. Eizenkot's party gained three seats from the previous poll, reaching 23 mandates, while Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party lost one seat, dropping to 21 mandates and second place.

Naftali Bennett's "Together" party fell by two seats to 15 mandates, placing third. Both the Democratic Camp led by Yair Golan and Avigdor Lieberman's Yisrael Beiteinu received 10 seats each. Shas, United Torah Judaism, and Otzma Yehudit each secured eight mandates. Hadash-Ta'al obtained six seats, with Ra'am and Religious Zionism each gaining five.

Several parties failed to cross the electoral threshold, including the United Party of Hili Tropper and Yoaz Hendel (2.2%), Benny Gantz's Blue and White (2.1%), and Balad (1.7%). The anti-Netanyahu bloc holds 58 seats, Netanyahu's bloc 51, and Arab parties 11. Overall, opposition parties have 69 mandates versus 51 for the current coalition.

Regarding the prime minister preference, 46% favor Eizenkot over Netanyahu's 36%, with 18% undecided. Hypothetical political mergers were also tested: a joint Hadash-Ta'al and Balad list would receive 10 seats, reducing Ra'am to four, while a united list of Benny Gantz and Dedi Simchi would fail to pass the threshold. Netanyahu's coalition would drop to 49 seats in this scenario.

Public opinion on judicial compliance shows 62% believe the government must obey Supreme Court rulings, while 28% disagree. Among coalition supporters, only 9% agree the government must comply, with 74% opposing. On a proposed law preventing arrests of young ultra-Orthodox draft resisters, 56% of the public oppose it, but 68% of coalition voters support it.

When asked if the passing of laws agreed upon by Netanyahu and ultra-Orthodox parties would influence their vote, 53% said it would not, 20% said it definitely would, and 17% said it might. The poll was conducted by Hamidad in collaboration with several research groups and statisticians.