Less than a month remains until what may be among the most dramatic elections in Israel's history. Opposition parties are working every angle to remind the public that three years have passed since the October 7 massacre, and that the current government must be removed from office.
A mandates poll published last night on Kan 11 showed a tie between the blocs, with each receiving 52 seats, far short of what's needed to form a government. Political consultants, however, claim the polls don't reflect last night's data regarding Likud, and that the party is expected to surprise.
Channel 13 reported last night that Prime Minister Netanyahu is planning a serious offensive against Ofer Winter's party immediately after the chag, with the goal of pressuring him to withdraw so as not to endanger the bloc, because Netanyahu doesn't believe the party will cross the electoral threshold.
This morning (Monday), Mati Tuchfeld, head of the political desk at C14, claimed there's one party putting more pressure on Netanyahu than any other: the "Miluimnikim-Kalkalit" party of Yoaz Hendel and Yaron Zelekha. Likud has now decided not to attack the party, but rather to ignore it, because Likud fears that a head-on confrontation with Hendel and Zelekha would actually strengthen them and grant them the status of a significant rival.
According to the polls in Likud's possession, most of the support that Yoaz Hendel and Yaron Zelekha are currently receiving comes from right-wing voters and not from the opposition camp. The number of mandates isn't large, but from Likud's perspective, even a few percentage points could be significant if they're subtracted from the bloc at the moment of decision.
