{"id":276862,"date":"2026-02-06T07:40:11","date_gmt":"2026-02-06T07:40:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/276862\/"},"modified":"2026-02-06T07:40:11","modified_gmt":"2026-02-06T07:40:11","slug":"poll-arab-joint-list-wins-14-seats-maintaining-deadlock-between-pms-bloc-and-rivals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/276862\/","title":{"rendered":"Poll: Arab Joint List wins 14 seats, maintaining deadlock between PM’s bloc and rivals"},"content":{"rendered":"

A joint list of Arab parties would win 14 of the Knesset\u2019s 120 seats if elections were held today, continuing to prevent a parliamentary majority from either Zionist opposition parties or Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu\u2019s coalition, according to a poll published Thursday by Zman Yisrael<\/a>, The Times of Israel\u2019s Hebrew-language sister site.<\/p>\n

The result represented a two-seat dip from last week\u2019s poll<\/a> for the Joint List, which Arab party leaders vowed to work toward reviving<\/a> last month, and which is expected to command more Knesset seats than the parties collectively would if they were to run separately.<\/p>\n

Still, the result precluded the option of a government composed solely of Zionist opposition parties, which won a combined 54 seats, or of Netanyahu\u2019s current coalition, which won a combined 52 seats. Leaders of both blocs have rejected the prospect of a government reliant on Arab parties.<\/p>\n

Netanyahu\u2019s bloc would fail to form a government even if joined by the four seats awarded in the new poll to Benny Gantz\u2019s Blue and White, the only Zionist opposition party that has expressed openness to forming a government with the premier.<\/p>\n

Zionist opposition parties, meanwhile, would fail to form a government even if Arab party Ra\u2019am were to splinter from the Joint List and join them in a constellation similar to the short-lived government of 2021-2022 that unseated Netanyahu, according to the poll.<\/p>\n

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In Netanyahu\u2019s coalition, the new poll awarded 27 seats to the premier\u2019s Likud, 10 seats to the Sephardic ultra-Orthodox Shas, eight seats to the Ashkenazi ultra-Orthodox United Torah Judaism and seven seats to National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir\u2019s extremist Otzma Yehudit party. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich\u2019s Religious Zionism party would fail to clear the electoral threshold.<\/p>\n

The results for the parties in Netanyahu\u2019s coalition were identical to last week, except for Shas, which saw a one-seat increase.<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a>
\n\t\tPrime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu takes part in a Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee meeting at the Knesset in Jerusalem on February 5, 2026. (Yonatan Sindel\/Flash90)<\/p>\n

Among opposition parties, right-wing former prime minister Naftali Bennett\u2019s prospective party would win 18 seats, down from 19 last week; former defense minister Avigdor Liberman\u2019s hawkish Yisrael Beytenu would win 10 seats, the same as last week; former deputy IDF chief Yair Golan\u2019s left-wing Democrats would win eight seats, down from nine last week; and former IDF chief Gadi Eisenkot\u2019s centrist Yashar party would win six seats, down from seven last week.<\/p>\n

Blue and White, led by former IDF chief Gantz, would win four seats, after failing to clear the electoral threshold in last week\u2019s poll.<\/p>\n

The net result for the Zionist opposition parties represented a one-seat decrease from last week.<\/p>\n

The result came days after Bennett defended the inclusion of Ra\u2019am in his 2021-2022 government, but said there was no \u201cmandate\u201d<\/a> to form a government reliant on Arab parties following the Hamas-led onslaught of October 7, 2023. Gantz<\/a> and Liberman<\/a> have also vetoed a government reliant on Arab parties.<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a>
\n\t\tNaftali Bennett speaks during a conference at the Reichman University in Herzliya, on January 22, 2026. (Avshalom Sassoni\/Flash90)<\/p>\n

The Islamist Ra\u2019am party joined the communist Arab-majority Hadash, secularist Ta\u2019al and nationalist Balad parties in signing an agreement last month to work toward running together in the next election, as soaring violent crime in the Arab community triggered public pressure on the factions to unite.<\/p>\n

The Arab parties had for months been in talks to revive the list, which seemed halted amid internal fights between Ra\u2019am and the other parties, mainly over Abbas\u2019s demand for the bloc to be merely a technical alliance to allow him the option to split after the elections and join a governing coalition separately.<\/p>\n

According to the Kan public broadcaster, the other parties acquiesced, enabling an agreement to be signed.<\/p>\n

The Zman Yisrael survey was conducted on Wednesday and Thursday by Tatika Research and Media in collaboration with the Adgenda panel, and included 500 Jewish and Arab respondents, controlled for age, religion, gender and place of residence. The margin of error is 4.4%.<\/p>\n

Ariela Karmel contributed to this report.<\/p>\n


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