
A new Channel 13 poll released Wednesday night shows a dramatic shift in Israel’s political landscape, with Gadi Eisenkot’s newly formed “Yashar!” party emerging as the largest faction if elections were held today. The survey also shows Shas slipping to just seven seats for the second consecutive week, while Eisenkot holds a significant lead over Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu in the race for prime minister.
According to the poll, “Yashar!” would win 23 Knesset seats, narrowly edging out Likud, which would receive 22 seats. Naftali Bennett’s party would remain steady with 13 seats.
Yisrael Beiteinu gains one seat to reach 11, while the Democrats also climb to 11 seats. Otzma Yehudit would secure 9 seats, United Torah Judaism would receive 8, and Shas would remain at a low of just 7 seats for the second straight week.
Hadash-Ta’al is projected to win 6 seats, while both the Religious Zionist Party and Ra’am would receive 5 seats each. Falling below the electoral threshold in the current survey are the parties led by Chili Tropper and Yoaz Hendel, Balad, and Benny Gantz’s Blue and White.
The bloc breakdown gives the opposition 58 seats, while Netanyahu’s coalition would hold 51 seats. The Arab parties together would account for 11 seats.
When respondents were asked who is better suited to serve as prime minister, Eisenkot led with 46%, compared to 36% for Netanyahu.
The poll also examined several potential party merger scenarios. A joint list of Hadash-Ta’al and Balad would receive 8 seats. If Yoav Segalovitz were to join forces with Mansour Abbas, Ra’am would increase its representation to 7 seats. Even under those merger scenarios, the parties led by Tropper and Hendel, Gilad Erdan and Yuli Edelstein, and Benny Gantz and Alon Schuster would all remain below the electoral threshold.
The survey also asked whether Ra’am should be allowed to join a future governing coalition if it were to sever ties with the Islamic Movement and be joined by Yoav Segalovitz. Overall, 45% of respondents said they oppose such a move, 29% support it under those conditions, and 26% said they were undecided.
Among coalition supporters, opposition was overwhelming, with 79% rejecting the idea, compared to just 6% in favor and 14% undecided.
Within Israel’s Arab sector, 65% supported Ra’am joining a coalition under those circumstances, while 23% opposed the move and 12% said they had no opinion.
Among respondents who do not identify with the current coalition, 37% supported bringing Ra’am into a future coalition under the proposed conditions, 32% opposed it, and 31% said they had not yet formed an opinion.