A new Channel 13 News poll published Wednesday shows far-right parties led by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and hard-line former general Ofer Winter both passing the electoral threshold, boosting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's bloc and weakening his rivals as he works to consolidate parties to his right.
The poll projects both the Netanyahu and Eisenkot blocs would have 53 seats each, a five-seat reduction from the previous survey for Netanyahu's top rival, while Arab parties receive 14.
As in a series of recent polls, the survey shows a majority of 67 seats for parties opposed to Netanyahu's government. However, some parties in the Eisenkot bloc oppose joining with Arab parties, leaving the bloc without a majority in the Knesset.
Gadi Eisenkot's Yashar party remains the largest party, with 22 seats, down two from its peak in the previous poll. Likud rises to 21 seats, gaining three.
Former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett's Together party drops one seat to 12, followed by the Democrats with 11, unchanged from last week.
The Arab-led Joint List receives nine seats, down one. Yisrael Beiteinu and United Torah Judaism each receive eight seats, with the latter gaining one. Shas and Otzma Yehudit each receive seven seats, unchanged from last week.
Smotrich's far-right Religious Zionism party, which on Tuesday merged its list with fringe far-right libertarian Moshe Feiglin's Zehut party, receives six seats. United Arab List receives five, while Winter's Amcha Yisrael party receives four.
Three parties fail to cross the electoral threshold: Chili Tropper and Yoaz Hendel's Bayit Tzioni, with 2 percent; Benny Gantz's Blue and White, with 1.2 percent; and Gilad Erdan's Ha'Ahdut, with 0.6 percent.
The poll was conducted by Hamadad, led by Shmuel Rosner and Noah Salpakov, in cooperation with Stat-Net, led by Yosef Makladeh; Project Hamigdam, led by Dr. Ariel Ayalon; and Askaria, led by Dudi Dror. Additional data was provided by Hive, with statistical consulting by Prof. David Steinberg.
The survey included 940 respondents and has a sampling error of 3.4 percent.
