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Polls show pro-Netanyahu bloc of right-wing and religious parties has pulled even with anti-Netanyahu bloc
Israeli defense minister Israel Katz claims most Gazans want to leave the war-torn enclave. Photograph: Elad Malka/Anadolu via Getty Images“We control the territory here,” he said at an IDF position on the temporary demarcation line, dubbed the yellow line, that separates IDF troops from the Palestinian-controlled areas.
“We are not withdrawing. We are staying on this line. We control 60 per cent of the strip. And there is still more to come, because we are eliminating the terrorists who threaten us – we do this day in and day out.
” Gaza remains gripped by daily violence, with both the Israeli military and Hamas accusing one another of violating the truce in effect since October 10th. Photograph: Eyad Baba/AFP via Getty Images Maintaining an IDF presence in Gaza and calls for the expulsion of Palestinian residents is in direct contradiction to the 15-point Gaza peace plan presented by Donald Trump in July, which calls for a phased withdrawal of Israeli troops and Hamas disarmament.
Last year Israel set up a special bureau to facilitate Palestinian emigration but found no country willing to absorb Gaza residents. Human rights organisations in Israel and abroad have warned that the forced expulsion of residents would constitute a war crime, arguing that the conditions Israel has imposed on Gaza mean no departure could be considered voluntary and the policy would be tantamount to ethnic cleansing.
The bellicose comments by Israeli leaders on Gaza are matched by similar hardline positions on Iran, the West Bank and Lebanon. The Israeli elections are less than two months away and it appears that all the parties on the right are competing over who can make the most extreme comments in the belief that any suggestion of compromise, and certainly territorial concessions, will be perceived as weakness.
A Channel 13 TV poll on Wednesday night showed for the first time the pro-Netanyahu bloc of right-wing and religious parties pulling even with the anti-Netanyahu bloc, comprised of parties from across the political spectrum. According to the results of the poll, the opposing blocs would each win 53 seats if the October 27th elections were held today, eight short of a 61-seat majority in the Knesset, the Israeli parliament. Two Arab parties held the balance of 14 seats.
The two Arab parties are also opposed to Netanyahu but some parties in the anti-Netanyahu bloc insist they will not sit in a coalition with an Arab party, particularly after the Hamas attack on southern Israel on October 7th, 2023. That result marked a significant change from Channel 13’s poll of a week ago, which showed the opposition leading the pro-Netanyahu parties 57 to 48, with 15 for the Arab parties.
The change appears to be due to two new right-wing pro-Netanyahu parties making it into the Knesset – the People of Israel party, led by far-right ex-general Ofer Winter, with four seats, and a new party formed by the merger of the far-right Religious Zionist party with a smaller right-wing party, with the new list projected to win six seats. However, analysts warn that everything is still up for grabs and the smaller right-wing parties could still fall below the minimum 3.25 per cent threshold required to enter the Knesset.
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