Polls show the Joint List gaining strength and win 14 to 15 seats in the next Knesset.  Wednesday’s Channel 13 survey sees far-right PM Netanyahu’s Likud party gaining one seat and the Jont List win 15. As with previous surveys, without the Joint List parties’ support, both blocs fall short of securing the required 61-seat majority to form a ruling coalition

According to another poll, published on Thursday by the Zman Israel website, Joint list of Hadash and three Arab parties would win 14 of the Knesset’s 120 seats if elections were held today, continuing to prevent a parliamentary majority from the Zionist opposition parties.

Leaders of Hadash and the Arab parties celebrate after signing an agreement to work towards a Joint List in Sakhnin, January 22, 2026 (Photo: Al Ittihad)

The result represented a two-seat dip from last week’s poll for the Joint List, which is expected to command more Knesset seats than the parties collectively would if they were to run separately. Still, the result precluded the option of a government composed solely of Zionist opposition parties, which won a combined 54 seats, or of Netanyahu’s current coalition, which won a combined 52 seats. Leaders of both blocs have rejected the prospect of a government reliant on the Joint List.

Netanyahu’s bloc would fail to form a government even if joined by the four seats awarded in the new poll to Benny Gantz’s Blue and White, the only Zionist opposition party that has expressed openness to forming a government with the premier. In Netanyahu’s coalition, the new poll awarded 27 seats to the premier’s Likud, 10 seats to the Sephardic ultra-Orthodox Shas, eight seats to the Ashkenazi ultra-Orthodox United Torah Judaism and seven seats to National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir’s racist Otzma Yehudit party. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich’s racist Religious Zionism party would fail to clear the electoral threshold.

Among Zionist opposition parties, right-wing former prime minister Naftali Bennett’s prospective party would win 18 seats, down from 19 last week; former defense minister Avigdor Liberman’s hawkish Yisrael Beytenu would win 10 seats, the same as last week; former deputy army chief Yair Golan’s liberal Democrats would win eight seats, down from nine last week; and former army chief Gadi Eisenkot’s conservative Yashar party would win six seats, down from seven last week. The net result for the Zionist opposition parties represented a one-seat decrease from last week.

The result came days after Bennett defended the inclusion of Islamist Ra’am in his 2021-2022 government, but said there was “no mandate” to form a government reliant on Joint List parties following the Hamas-led onslaught of October 7, 2023. MKs Gantz and Liberman have also vetoed a government reliant on Joint List parties.

Related: https://maki.org.il/en/?p=33224