Polls: Netanyahu Can Be Defeated; Hadash-Ta’al to Be 3rd Largest List

A week after the Attorney General’s decision to indict far-right Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, several surveys conducted by the Israeli media indicate a reversal in the neck and neck race between the blocs, with 61 seats now predicted for the center and left, as opposed to 59 for the right.

The leaders of the Hadash-Ta'al List, MKs Ayman Odeh, right, and Dr. Ahmed Tibi: "We've set out."

The leaders of the Hadash-Ta’al List, MKs Ayman Odeh, right, and Dr. Ahmed Tibi: “We’ve set out.”

The first such poll released by Channel 13 News on Friday found that, if elections were held today, the center and left bloc would win a total of 61 Knesset seats, two more than the right-wing bloc, which would garner 59 seats altogether. The Blue and White party, headed by Benny Gantz and Yair Lapid, would win 36 seats while the Likud would be the second largest party in the Knesset with 30 seats.

The third largest list would be Hadash-Ta’al, headed by Ayman Odeh and Ahmed Tibi, with nine seats. Two lists, the Union of Right-Wing Parties (Jewish Home, National Union and Otzma Yehudit) and United Torah Judaism each wound win seven seats in the Knesset. Labor, Shas and Meretz would win six seats apiece. The New Right party headed by Ayelet Shaked and Naftali Bennett would send five representatives to Israel’s parliament.

Moshe Kahlon’s Kulanu party and the Arab Balad-Ra’am party each would have four seats. The poll predicted that the racist Yisrael Beytenu party headed by Avigdor Lieberman, the rightist Gesher party headed by Orly Levy-Abekasis, and far-right Zehut party headed by Moshe Feiglin would not pass the electoral threshold.

In addition, according to the polls, along with the center and left winning more seats overall, 46% of the respondents maintain that Gantz is more suitable to serve as prime minister compared to 41% who contend that Binyamin Netanyahu is.