Political commentator Emanuel Shiloh spoke Wednesday on Galei Israel radio about the polling performance of the Am Yisrael party, led by former IDF officer Ofer Winter, offering sharp criticism of Winter's electoral strategy.
"In my view, Winter made a major error by insisting on running independently," Shiloh said. "He could have strengthened the Likud list or the Religious Zionism list. Instead, he decided he would be the savior of the right, that he would bring votes from the other side."
Shiloh drew a parallel to former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett's political trajectory. "This reminds us of what Bennett said when he left the Bayit Yehudi party (Jewish Home) and launched the New Right adventure in 2019, and we remember how that ended," he noted. "Sure, Winter had a well-planned opening act and briefly shone in the polls, but already now he's starting to lose strength and is hovering around the electoral threshold. And that's a very dangerous situation."
The electoral threshold in Israel is 3.25% of the vote, below which a party wins no seats in the Knesset and its votes are essentially wasted.
