Netanyahu's right-wing bloc strains as Likud slides, Eisenkot surges ahead of list deadline

Israel's parties are racing to finalize their Knesset lists by early next week, and the scramble of mergers and defections is exposing real cracks in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's right-wing bloc, Knesset and political correspondent Keshet Neev said on the latest episode of The Deep Dive.

Likud has slid in the polls, from the low 30s toward 21 seats, while Gadi Eisenkot's opposition leads as the largest party in most surveys, Neev told host Jacob Laznik. Netanyahu has urged voters to avoid smaller right-wing parties, warning that splintered votes could hand the opposition the first shot at forming a government.

Much of that pressure targets the "third bloc" of emerging right-wing parties, led by Ofer Winter's new list, which drew a massive launch and features bereaved families from October 7 and activist Yoseph Haddad at number two. The right remains split, with Itamar Ben-Gvir rejecting a merger with Bezalel Smotrich, while on the center-left, Eisenkot is in talks with Benny Gantz.

The most consequential shift, Neev argued, may be the least noticed: Mansour Abbas is running Ra'am alone and is expected to place a Jewish former police chief at number two, a first for the party, positioning it as a possible coalition partner. She also cited a recent interview in which Naftali Bennett softened on a pardon for Netanyahu, conditioned on his leaving politics, while ruling out sitting in a government with him.