Hendel-Zelekha cross electoral threshold in new KAN poll, complicating coalition prospects

A new KAN News poll has put Yoaz Hendel and economist Yaron Zelekha over Israel’s electoral threshold, projecting four seats for their joint list and adding another complication to coalition-building after the election.

The projected entry follows Hendel’s split from Chili Tropper. Hendel and Tropper said Sunday that they were pursuing “separate political paths.” Their Zionist Home-The Reservists party had consistently remained below the threshold. Hendel then announced a joint run with Zelekha, whose New Economic Party had also failed to clear it in previous polling.

The deadline for parties to submit their official candidate lists is Tuesday, September 8. With Hendel and Zelekha entering the Knesset in the poll, neither major bloc could govern alone. The survey projects 56 seats for Benjamin Netanyahu’s bloc and 55 for the opposition bloc led by Gadi Eisenkot, both short of the 61 seats required for a majority.

“

separate political paths

The poll shows Likud on 20 seats, Yashar, led by Eisenkot, on 23, and Naftali Bennett’s B’Yachad on 13, with all three losing seats compared with earlier surveys. The Democrats, Otzma Yehudit, United Torah Judaism and the Joint Arab List also each lost one seat. Ra’am and the Religious Zionist Party gained ground, reaching six seats apiece.

Eisenkot remains ahead of Netanyahu and Bennett on suitability for prime minister. Thirty-eight percent selected Eisenkot over 35% for Netanyahu, while Netanyahu led Bennett by 37% to 32%. Respondents also criticized Netanyahu’s conduct on the morning of October 7: 62% rated it “not good,” compared with 26% who rated it “good.” Kantar conducted the poll on September 6 among 551 respondents from an invited pool of 2,450 people. Its margin of error was 4.2 percentage points.

“

not good