A new poll shows Benny Gantz’s Blue and White failing to pass the threshold, while Naftali Bennett’s party surges to first place and Gadi Eisenkot emerges as a rising force.
Israeli politics is undergoing a dramatic reshuffle, according to a Lazar Research Institute poll published by Maariv.
The survey shows Blue and White collapsing, unable to cross the electoral threshold, while a newly formed party led by former IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot is surging with 10 seats.
If elections were held today, the results would be:
- Bennett’s party: 23
- Likud: 21
- Democrats: 11
- Eisenkot’s party: 10
- Yisrael Beytenu: 9
- Shas, Yesh Atid, Otzma Yehudit: 8 each
- United Torah Judaism: 7
- Ra’am (UAL): 6
- Hadash-Ta’al: 5
- Religious Zionism: 4
When divided into blocs, the anti-Netanyahu camp secures 61 seats — enough for a razor-thin coalition — while the current coalition parties sink to 48 seats. The remaining 11 go to Arab parties that traditionally stay out of governing coalitions.
Meanwhile, Blue and White leader Benny Gantz is under fire after a leaked recording published by Kan News caught him lashing out at rivals inside the center-left.
“The radical left is putting out money to get rid of me,” Gantz told party activists, adding that he had changed his phone “seven times” to avoid political sabotage.
“It’s not the right, it’s not Netanyahu — maybe he wants me too — but it’s the radical left,” he said.
The turmoil comes as reports suggest Gantz may consider joining the government, especially amid opposition from ministers Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich to any partial deal with Hamas. The speculation has fueled mounting criticism from within his own camp.
With Bennett rising, Eisenkot gaining, and Gantz floundering, Israel’s political map is shifting faster than ever.
