Israeli political commentator and i24 host Eliraz Sade addressed the upcoming closure of party lists on Monday, ahead of Israel's approaching elections. In his analysis, he argued that the size of the largest party matters less than which candidate can secure recommendations from 61 members of the Knesset, Israel's 120-seat parliament, to form a government.
Reflecting on former Defense Minister Benny Gantz's political trajectory, Sade suggested that Gantz made the right decision to join previous governments but repeatedly left instead of projecting stability and building influence. "In politics, you're not worth what people voted for you in the elections, but rather how much they'll vote for you if the government falls and we go to elections again," he said.
He dismissed the significance of being the largest party as "nonsense," noting that whoever secures 61 recommendations becomes prime minister, as demonstrated by the Bennett-Lapid coalition. He predicted that if either opposition figure Gadi Eisenkot or Netanyahu falls short of the necessary support, Netanyahu would remain as caretaker prime minister because "he won't give up that legal right."
Looking ahead to a potential additional election round, he suggested Eisenkot might face the same fate as Gantz, gradually fading from election to election. He attributed this pattern partly to the advantages of incumbency: "A sitting prime minister has all the tools to preserve his next victory." He also noted that Israel's bloc division has shifted slightly rightward, raising the possibility that the next prime minister "won't be against the right, but from the right."
