Poll Finds Landslide Majority Against Arab Parties in Future Government

By Hamodia Staff

YERUSHALAYIM – Some 69% of Israelis—the equivalent of an electoral landslide—do not want an Arab party in any future government coalition, according to a poll release on Thursday night.

The shaky Bennett-Lapid coalition, which depends for its survival on the Islamist Ra’am party staying on, apparently has not persuaded voters of the desirability of such a deal.

According to the Panels Research poll sponsored by The Jerusalem Post,

Only 22% of respondents said they were in favor of an Arab party in the coalition, and nine percent said they do not know. Those opposed to an Arab party in the coalition includes 40 percent of Israeli-Arabs.

The poll also found that no combination of parties would yield a 61-MK majority for Binyamin Netanyahu’s Likud. Despite rising from its current 30 seats in the Knesset to 35 if elections were held now, Netanyahu’s right-religious bloc (Likud, Religious Zionism, Shas and United Torah Judaism) would not win more than 59 seats, according to the poll.

The parties in the current coalition would win 54 seats, and the Joint Arab List, which has stayed out of the coalition without supporting the opposition, would receive 7.

The research showed that only if one of the coalition’s right-wing members, New Hope or Yamina, would wipe out and fail to pass the electoral threshold of 3.25% of the total vote, would Netanyahu attain a majority.

In the poll, New Hope and Ra’am would barely cross the threshold. Meretz, with only 2.6%, would be out of the Knesset and therefore the coalition.

The poll found that 65% of Israelis are not satisfied with the performance of Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, and only 30% said he is performing well. Five percent said they did not know.

As for the other parties: Yesh Atid got 20, Religious Zionist 9, Blue and White and Shas both 8, UTJ, Labor and Joint List 7, Yamina 6, Yisrael Beytenu 5, New Hope and Ra’am 4.

The poll noted that rebel Yamina MK Amichai Chikli, who is reportedly starting a new party, would would receive only 2.7% of the vote as things now stand. However, considering that he hasn’t made any formal announcement about forming a party, that’s not a bad start. Better than the old, established Meretz with 2.6%.

Meretz could save itself if it merged with Labor, together good for 9 seats in the Knesset. They’ve merged before, and then detached when the political winds changed.

The researchers also predicted an interesting scenario: If Itamar Ben-Gvir’s Otzma Yehudit split from Betzalel Smotrich’s Religious Zionism, the former would win 6 seats, the latter 5. That’s even if Yamina’s Ayelet Shaked were to join Likud, which has been discussed. In fact, in that scenario, Likud would drop to 32.