Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu conceded Thursday that the center-left opposition could win the March 17 general elections and appealed to voters not to take the chance with national security.
"Our security is at great risk because there is a real danger that we could lose this election," he told the Jerusalem Post.
His remarks comes as polls continue to show the "Zionist Union," led by Labor leader Yitzhak Herzog and former justice minister Tzipi Livni holding a three-point lead over his Likud party.
"If the gap between the Likud and Labor continues to grow, a week from now Herzog and Livni will become the prime ministers of Israel in rotation, with the backing of the Arab parties," he said.
"That will cause such a monumental shift in policy that it is a danger, and anyone who wants to stop it has to vote Likud to narrow the gap," Netanyahu stressed.
The "Zionist Union" is comprised of Herzog's Labor party and Livni's more centrist Hatnua. Should they form the next government the two chairs have agreed on a two-year rotation for the premiership, with Herzog taking the first tenure.
"You will get prime ministers who completely prostrate themselves to any pressure," Netanyahu said. "Not only can't they stand up to pressure, they don't want to stand up to the pressure. They just want to yield and give in."
The Jerusalem Post also quoted Livni as hitting back, accusing Netanyahu of scaremongering.
"The role of a leader is not to scare his people, but to make decisions and deal with threats," she told students at Haifa University.
Likud officials and ministers have become more vocal in the past few days of their concern they may lose the election. Several Likud sources told Channel Ten on Wednesday that the party had not ruled out a unity government with Labor-Hatnua.
AFP contributed to this report.