Netanyahu's Likud Leads Polls by 10 Seats With One Week Until Election

With exactly one week remaining until the Knesset elections, a Channel 14 poll released Tuesday evening shows the Likud party, led by Binyamin Netanyahu, as the largest party with 30 seats. The poll indicates a 10-seat lead over the Yisrael Beiteinu party, headed by Gadi Eisenkot, which garnered 20 seats. According to the survey, Shas, the Yahad party, and the Democrats each received nine seats. Otzma Yehudit, Yahadut HaTorah, and the Joint List each obtained eight seats. The Religious Zionism party and Zehut were projected to win seven seats, while Yisrael Beiteinu and Ra'am each received six seats.

A notable finding in the poll concerns the "Amcha Israel" party, led by Ofer Vinter, which secured only 1.9% of the vote, falling short of the 3.25% electoral threshold. This result comes hours after Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Minister of Finance Bezalel Smotrich met with Rabbi Eli Sadan and other rabbis in the settlement of Ali. The meeting was part of efforts to persuade Vinter to withdraw from the race to prevent a loss of votes for the right-wing bloc. Vinter had previously stated his intention not to withdraw and criticized Netanyahu and Smotrich for pressuring him.

Additionally, the Reservists-Economic party did not pass the electoral threshold, receiving 2.5% support. The Noam L'Yisrael and Haredi Public parties each received 0.9%, and the Achi - Returning to the Roots party got 0.4%. In total, the five parties failing to cross the threshold collectively garnered 6.6% of the respondents' votes. The poll projects Netanyahu's bloc to secure 62 seats.