Yaakov "Ketzaleh" Katz
Yaakov "Ketzaleh" KatzFlash 90

The Chairman of the Board of Directors of the BeSheva (Arutz Sheva) Group, Yaakov "Ketzaleh" Katz, is expressing cautious optimism that incumbent Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu will be able to formulate a narrow rightwing coalition, if he desires.

Ketzaleh surmises that in almost every poll in every election, the Likud receives in the actual tally 2 or 3 seats more than the pollsters gave them. The pollsters admit that they have difficulty in polling the haredi sector, and especially given the possibility that many haredi voters supported the anti-haredi Liberman in all the polls to make him appear good, only to suffer a setback in the real results.

In addition, the count of the IDF soldiers' votes which takes some 3 days, often shifts the results one Knesset seat towards the right. Ketzaleh's estimate is as follows:

"Ketzaleh" Exit Poll

Likud (Netanyahu) 34/35 seats

Shas (Sephardic) 10 seats

United Torah Judaism: 9 seats

Yamina (Shaked/Religious Zionism): 8

TOTAL RIGHTWING BLOC: 61/62 KNESSET SEATS

The exit polls of the three major TV channels give Netanyahu's rightwing bloc lower estimates:

Channel 11 (Kan) Exit Poll

Likud (Netanyahu) 32 seats

Shas (Sephardic) 9 seats

United Torah Judaism: 8 seats

Yamina (Shaked/Religious Zionism): 7

TOTAL RIGHTWING BLOC: 56 KNESSET SEATS

Channel 12 Exit Poll

Likud (Netanyahu) 33 seats

Shas (Sephardic) 8 seats

United Torah Judaism: 8 seats

Yamina (Shaked/Religious Zionism): 8

TOTAL RIGHTWING BLOC: 57 KNESSET SEATS

Channel 13 Exit Poll

Likud (Netanyahu) 31 seats

Shas (Sephardic) 9 seats

United Torah Judaism: 8 seats

Yamina (Shaked/Religious Zionism): 6

TOTAL RIGHTWING BLOC: 54 KNESSET SEATS