Anti-Netanyahu bloc on the rise, Smotrich's Zionist party out: Poll

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: News Websites
16 Feb 2024 14:59
3 Shares

The most significant change demonstrates that far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich’s Religious Zionism party does not even surpass the 3.25% electoral limit needed to enter the Knesset.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with Minister of Finance Bezalel Smotrich during the weekly cabinet meeting on Jan. 7, 2024. (AP)

A poll by the Israeli newspaper Maariv shows that the current opposition, with Benny Gantz’s "National Unity party" (previously in the opposition but now a member of the emergency government), could garner 76 of the Knesset’s 120 seats if elections were held today, whereas Netanyahu's party trails behind at 44 seats.

The poll expects Gantz’s party to gain 40 seats, while Netanyahu’s Likud party is currently at 18 seats.

The most significant change in the poll was exemplified by the far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich’s Religious Zionism party not even surpassing the 3.25% electoral limit needed to enter the Knesset.

Opposition leader Yair Lapid’s Yesh Atid party garnered 12 seats, while Avigdor Liberman’s Yisrael Beytenu and Aryeh Deri’s ultra-Orthodox Shas party garnered 10 and 9 respectively.

Smotrich, coming in at 2.9%, the Arab Balad party at 1.4%, and Labor at 1% all fail to cross the threshold needed to enter.

This poll comes the same day after the Daily Mail exposed Netanyahu's son, Yair, enjoying the high life in a luxurious Miami apartment, dodging the IOF draft.

Netanyahu’s son is qualified to serve as a reservist until he is 40, and he is now 32, but instead, he is guarded 24/7 by two Shin Bet agents in a luxury apartment rented for $5,000 a month in Hallandale Beach outside Miami.

Yair Netanyahu is one of his father's and the Likud Party's most powerful and effective social media advocates, yet his views and statements also ignited anti-government demonstrations and harmed Netanyahu's already damaged reputation.