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Benny Gantz launched the election campaign for his Israel Resilience party yesterday with the slogan “Israel Before Everything”.

In a film released on social media, that was widely criticised for lacking content, Gantz said: “Join me as we embark on a new path, because things must change and we will change them”. In head-to-head polls, when asked who is best suited to be prime minister, Netanyahu remains the preferred option, supported by thirty-six per cent of Israelis compared to twenty-eight per cent for Gantz. Fourteen per cent say they don’t know and twenty-two per cent say ‘neither one’.

The Yesh Atid party released a film showing its leader, Yair Lapid, in an office taking out files of Government legislation and shredding them.

Labor released films mocking Lapid and Gantz’s films. In the anti-Gantz film they show footage of Gantz but dubbed with Netanyahu’s voice. In the anti-Lapid film they show him throwing the shredded files into a large bin, symbolising the danger that Lapid will throw votes away if he joins a Netanyahu-led coalition. In both films, Labor promised not to join a Netanyahu-led government.

Latest polling from Kan TV predict that Likud will win 32 seats in the April election. Yesh Atid would win 14 seats, Israeli Resilience 13, Labour 9, the New Right 8, United Torah Judaism 7, Arab Movement for Renewal 6, Joint List 6, Shas 6, Yisrael Beteinu 6, Meretz 5, Kulanu 4, Gesher 4. It is the second poll in consecutive days that has predicted that Tzipi Livni’s Hatnuah, Moshe Yaalon’s Telem and Jewish Home would fail to win more than the 3.25 per cent threshold to enter the Knesset.