Poll: Israeli opposition needs Arab Knesset members to form a government
A public opinion poll released on Friday showed that Israeli opposition parties still need the support of Arab Knesset members in order to form a government that would oust Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
According to the poll, the results of which were published by the Maariv newspaper, if the Knesset elections were held with the current alliances, the opposition parties would win 60 seats, compared to 50 seats for Netanyahu’s camp, and 10 for the Arab members of parliament.
The opposition maintains its lead in the event of elections, compared to opinion polls conducted by the same institute since last January, but it still faces difficulty in securing a majority of 61 deputies without the support of Arab deputies.
The current Knesset’s term ends next October, at which time general elections will be held unless early elections are held.
According to the system in Israel, forming a government requires obtaining the confidence of 61 members of the 120 Knesset.
Former right-wing Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, leader of the “Together” party, says he won’t form an alliance with Arab members to form a government that would prevent Netanyahu from having the opportunity to form a new government.
The “Together” party was formed last April, in partnership between Bennett, leader of the “Bennett 2026” party, and “Yesh Atid” headed by opposition leader Yair Lapid.
The poll indicates that the opposition can only reach 61 seats if an alliance is formed between former army chief of staff and leader of the “Yeshar” party, Gadi Eisenkot, and the right-wing “Israel Beiteinu” party headed by former defense minister Avigdor Lieberman.
In this scenario, Netanyahu’s camp would get 49 seats, while the Arab members of parliament would get 10 seats.
The past few days have seen meetings between Eisenkot and Lieberman to discuss the possibility of unity.
The poll again indicates that neither the far-right “Religious Zionism” party, headed by Bezalel Smotrich, nor the “Blue and White” party, headed by former army chief of staff Benny Gantz, has a chance of winning any seats in the elections.
Maariv newspaper noted that the Lazar Institute (a private organization) conducted this survey on a random sample of 503 Israelis, with a margin of error of 4.4%.
The decline in the prime minister’s popularity coincides with criticism from the opposition regarding his handling of the war with Iran, with criticism escalating after Netanyahu agreed to US President Donald Trump’s decision to cease hostilities with Iran in April.
