Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud Party would win a clear majority if elections were held today, a Channel 12 poll released on Monday evening indicated, for the third time in one month.
According to the poll, Likud would garner 40 seats—up from the 36 that it currently holds—bringing the right-wing-religious bloc to 64 out of 120 Knesset seats. The second-largest party would be the Joint Arab List, maintaining its strength at 15 seats.
The Yesh Atid-Telem Party, led by Opposition leader Yair Lapid, would win 14 seats, down from 12 seats. The Blue and White Party, headed by Defense Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Benny Gantz would win 12, down from 17.
Other results of the poll put Shas and Yisrael Beiteinu at 9 seats, Yamina at 8, United Torah Judaism at 7 and Meretz at 6—with Labor failing to cross the electoral threshold.
The poll showed a grand failure to three partisan figures, although they seem marginal but Netanyahu grants them high importance for the sake of maneuvering. They are, Community Strengthening and Advancement Minister Orly Levy-Abekasis, Minister of Communication Yoaz Hendel, and Zvi Hauser, head of the foreign affairs and defense committee of the Knesset.
Political sources revealed that Netanyahu summoned these three figures to his office at the Knesset to bring them to his side. They are likely to lose the elections and Netanyahu might agree with them to abandon Gantz in case he left the government to form a right-bloc of over 61 deputies. This way, he would guarantee victory in any new elections, or even without elections, if he joins efforts with these three deputies.
