Islamist Party Won't Make It Into Israel's Parliament, Election Poll Shows

An opinion poll released Friday shows that the bloc supporting opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu would win 60 of the Knesset's 120 seats, while the United Arab List – the first party from the country's 21 percent Arab minority to join an Israeli government – wouldn't make it into the Knesset if an election were called now.

The parties that are now part of Israel's governing coalition would get 53 Knesset seats, the poll, published by 13 News and conducted by Professor Camil Fuchs, shows.

Netanyahu's Likud would remain the biggest party in the Israeli parliament, with 36 Knesset seats. In addition, Yair Lapid's Yesh Atid would win 20 seats, whereas Benny Gnatz's Kahol Lavan and the ultra-Orthodox Shas party would get eight seats each.

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According to the poll, Haredi party United Torah Judaism and the Arab-dominated Joint List party would achieve seven seats each, while Prime Minister Naftali Bennet's Yamina party and left-wing coalition member Labor would have seven seats each if an election were held today.

Avigdor Lieberman's Yisrael Beiteinu and Gideon Sa'ar's New Hope would win four seats each, making them the smallest parties in parliament.

The poll comes a day after Yamina lawmaker Nir Orbach indicated that he would decide whether to remain with the ruling coalition by Wednesday.

Bennett met with Orbach on Thursday night, following media reports that the latter was holding “significant talks” with a senior Likud lawmaker about joining the opposition.

According to sources familiar with the matter, Orbach told Bennett that the coalition stood a chance of surviving if one of two things happened – either one of two coalition lawmakers who have recently voted against the government – Ghaida Rinawie Zoabi (Meretz) and Mazen Ghanayim (United Arab List) – leave the Knesset, or the government succeeds in passing the legislation renewing emergency regulations applying Israeli law to West Bank settlers.