Israel’s television channels published polls on Wednesday evening that were taken following the dismissal of Defense Minister Yoav Gallant by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a day earlier.
According to a Channel 14 poll, the right-wing bloc continues to maintain its power with 62 seats. The poll found that when divided into parties, Likud wins the largest number of seats, at 33. The National Unity Party wins 16, Yisrael Beytenu 14, Shas 10, the Democrats 10, Yesh Atid and United Torah Judaism each have 8 seats. Otzma Yehudit has 6, the Religious Zionist Party 5, Ra'am 5, Hadash Ta'al-5. Balad and Gideon Sa’ar’s United Right fail to pass the electoral threshold.
A poll published by Kan 11 News found that a day after Gallant's firing, the Likud Party is gaining strength and wins 24 seats. National Unity - 21 seats, Yisrael Beytenu - 15 seats, Yesh Atid - 13 seats, the Democrats - 11 seats, Shas - 10 seats, Otzma Yehudit - 8 seats, United Torah Judaism - 7 seats, Hadash-Ta’al - 6 seats, Ra'am - 5 seats. The Religious Zionist Party, Balad and United Right do not pass the electoral threshold.
According to a Channel 12 News poll, if elections for the Knesset were to be held today, the largest party would be the Likud with 25 seats. National Unity is second with 20 seats and Yesh Atid has 15. The poll also found that if Naftali Bennett were to launch a new party, it would be the second largest party in the Knesset with 21 seats. That means he would take 4 seats from the Netanyahu bloc.
Further down the list: Shas and the Democrats with 10 seats each, Yisrael Beytenu led by Avigdor Liberman loses strength and wins 9 seats, United Torah Judaism with 8 seats, Otzma Yehudit with 6 seats and Hadash-Ta'al and the Ra’am each win 5 seats.
Below the electoral threshold are the Religious Zionist Party and Balad. The opposition wins 69 seats with Hadash-Ta'al (64 without it) and the coalition wins 51 seats.
Only 55% of respondents to the poll expressed opposition to the dismissal of the Minister of Defense. 58% among those who said they support the move are voters of the pro-Netanyahu bloc, and 87% of the opponents of the move are voters of the bloc which opposes Netanyahu. 13% of all respondents refrained from answering.
A poll by i24NEWS indicates that if elections were to be held today, the Likud would win 26 seats, National Unity 20, Yisrael Beytenu 16, Yesh Atid 12, Otzma Yehudit 10, Shas 10, the Democrats 9, United Torah Judaism 7, Ra'am 5, Hadash-Ta'al 5. The Religious Zionist Party, United Right and Balad fail to pass the electoral threshold. A new party led by Naftali Bennett would win 27 seats, according to this poll.
To the question of whether Israel Katz is suitable for the position of Minister of Defense today, 53% said they believe that he is not suitable for the role, compared to 21% who answered that he is. 26% answered "I don't know".