Senior political analyst Barak Seri told 103FM radio on Thursday morning that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faces a critical challenge in the coming weeks as Israel's right-wing bloc fragments into multiple small parties. "We're now less than two weeks before a very critical period, these are the two weeks in which elections are decided," Seri said. "I believe that in this election, Netanyahu is finished."
According to Seri, Netanyahu's diminished political standing has left him unable to consolidate his bloc and prevent wasted votes, a task he managed successfully in previous election cycles. "Netanyahu needs to organize the bloc, to engineer the bloc with the goal of preventing vote-burning," he explained. "It's a hundred times harder now. He has almost no dialogue with Winter, and that's mainly the reason why in the previous elections everyone knew Netanyahu was going to be the next prime minister. The polls predicted his bloc would stand at 60 seats, it was clear he was the next prime minister. When you're the next prime minister, it's much easier for you to impose your authority. This Netanyahu in 2026 is much weaker, everyone sees the numbers, everyone sees the polls."
Seri also addressed the launch of the "Amcha Yisrael" (Your People Israel) party led by Ofer Winter, a former IDF general. "Winter will pass the threshold in my opinion," Seri predicted. "Why didn't he pass in Channel 13's poll? They started collecting the data, in my opinion, before the launch ceremony of his party. Therefore, he was on the edge, and therefore I think if that same pollster does a poll after he launched his party, he'll see that he passed the electoral threshold." He concluded that "Netanyahu's bloc is very far from forming a government, everyone sees that, so his ability to organize the bloc as he organized it as an undisputed leader, strong and future prime minister, the chances this time are smaller."
