New Poll: Netanyahu Would Lose If Elections Were Held Today

If elections were held today, the ruling bloc would, at most, win 53–54 seats.

New polls released on Monday indicated that, if the next elections were held today, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition would probably lose.

The coalition would not be able to secure an absolute majority in parliament, according to a survey conducted by Israel’s Channel 12 News and public broadcaster Kan.

Religious Zionism, Shas, United Torah Judaism, and Netanyahu’s Likud party would all fall short of the 61 seats required for a majority in the 120-seat parliament.

Polls indicate that Netanyahu’s coalition could only win 53 to 54 seats in total.

While this was going on, the opposition, which consisted of the National Unity Party, Yesh Atid, Yisrael Beytenu, Meretz, United Arab List, and Labor, was likely to win 61 seats.

Netanyahu, Israel’s longest-serving prime minister, returned to power after his Likud party, far-right religious Zionist factions, and ultra-Orthodox parties won 64 seats in December. He led the government from 1996 to 1999 and again from 2009 to 2021.

Since January, mass protests have lasted for weeks as a result of his government’s push for a contentious plan to overhaul the judicial system.

After Netanyahu fired Defense Minister Yoav Gallant over the weekend, a day after calling for the judicial reforms to be put on hold, things took a dramatic turn.

Following unprecedented strikes, protests, and military upheaval, Netanyahu announced a temporary halt to the overhaul on Monday.

The coalition government led by Netanyahu would push for judicial reforms that would give parliament the ability to overturn Supreme Court decisions with a simple majority vote and de facto control over court nominees, a position currently held by a group of politicians, judges, and members of the bar association.

Additionally, it would restrict the court’s ability to overturn legislation that goes against the quasi-constitutional Basic Laws of the nation.

Far-right Supporters Rally

On Monday night, during a day of nationwide strikes and protests, far-right Israeli protesters who were in favor of the government’s contentious judicial overhaul attacked Palestinian people passing by.

After 12 weeks of widespread protests, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that he would delay the government’s contentious reorganization of the country’s courts that evening.

Extreme right Public Safety Pastor Itamar Ben-Gvir consented to the postponement, as a trade-off for permitting the production of a “public watchman” faithful to his service.

In the afternoon, more than 80,000 people opposed to the government gathered outside the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, in Jerusalem. Later, right-wing and pro-government protesters also gathered there.

Ben Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, the far-right Finance Minister, were among a number of government officials who urged right-wing groups to take to the streets.

A Palestinian taxi driver was seen being attacked by right-wing protesters who threw objects, kicked, and punched his vehicle in footage that was broadcast on Monday night from Jerusalem.

A police statement states that the driver then attempted to flee toward a gas station but was “attacked by the rioters who chased him and caused heavy damage to his car.”

On the internet, a video of protesters sprinting toward the gas station was widely circulated. At least three people were arrested, and the police said they were looking into the incident.

Right-wing demonstrators chanted “May your village burn” as they blocked the path of another Palestinian driver in another area of Jerusalem and waved Israeli and Likud flags.

After becoming entangled with right-wing protesters, a Palestinian youth is seen being hurriedly escorted away in another online video.