New poll predicts former PM Bennett new right-wing party would defeat Netanyahu's Likud in elections

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Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett would reportedly defeat Netanyahu’s Likud party if he were to lead a right-wing party in the next Israeli election, according to a new poll published by the Maariv news outlet on Friday.

The poll, which was led by Dr. Menachem Lazar, in cooperation with Panel4All, predicted that a potential Bennett-led party would receive 21 mandates, two more than Likud’s 19 seats in such a future scenario. According to the poll, the National Unity party, led by former Defense Minister Benny Gantz, would receive 14 mandates. The poll further predicted that Bennett could potentially secure a coalition of 67 Knesset members if it cooperated with the current opposition parties.

If the poll results are accurate, it would mean the Netanyahu-led coalition would only receive 46 mandates, far below the minimum 61 seats needed to form a government.

The Maariv poll predicted that Bennett would receive a whopping nine seats from undecided voters, a group that has reportedly expanded due to growing public dissatisfaction with Israel's political leadership, and its handling of the war in Gaza and the conflict with Iran and its terror proxy groups.

However, the poll predicted a dramatically different outcome in a scenario if Bennett were not to form a new political party and run for prime minister.

If Bennett decides not to re-enter Israeli politics, the opposition’s lead would shrink to 59 seats, compared to 51 mandates for the Netanyahu-led coalition that is currently in power. The poll predicted that without Bennett, Netanyahu’s Likud would become the largest party with 22 seats while National Unity would receive 21 mandates.

Israel is currently facing a multi-front attack from various Iranian-backed terrorist proxies such as Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis. However, the poll reveals that 57% of the Israelis believe Israel Defense Forces would only be able to handle several fronts if it had direct support from the United States. By contrast, only 29% of the respondents argued that Israel can manage several fronts without assistance from the U.S.

Addressing the political tensions between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, 47% of the respondents said they opposed the firing of Gallant while 27% supported it.

In June 2021, Bennett became Israel’s prime minister after leading a diverse coalition of left-wing, right-wing and Arab parties. However, Bennett’s government ended after just one year following political disagreements within his diverse coalition.

Following the unprecedented Hamas Oct. 7 invasion and massacre of 1,200 Israelis, Bennett strongly backed the Israeli military’s operations against Hamas and, later, Hezbollah. As a political rival to Netanyahu, Bennett avoided publicly criticizing the Netanyahu government until recently.

However, Bennett recently called for a new political and military leadership in Israel during a conference organized by the Israel Hayom newspaper in Herzliya, outside of Tel Aviv.

Bennett blasted the Netanyahu government’s handling of the war.

“We need change. The leadership is not good – it does not have good values,” Bennett stated.

“I have come to the conclusion that it must be done. The leadership must be changed… the political leadership and, honestly, the security leadership too. These are people I love but they too have to be changed,” the former premier argued. Bennett also criticized Netanyahu for focusing on Hamas and Hezbollah rather than the Iranian regime.

He argued that the State of Israel failed its citizens and the Jewish people in preventing the October attack.

“On October 7, the State of Israel failed in its basic mission – to be a safe state for the Jewish people,” Bennett said.