BICOM

Latest polls in Israel, just eleven days ahead of the election, indicate that several small parties are on the cusp of passing the electoral threshold that would see them represented in the next Knesset.

Most daily newspapers publish new polls in their weekend editions this morning. All predict that the joint Likud-Beitenu slate headed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will comfortably be the largest party list. Yediot Ahronot’s survey indicates that Likud-Beitenu has remained stagnant on 33 seats over the past week, while Maariv’s poll says that their support has increased from 36 to 38 mandates. The two polls place Naftali Bennett’s Jewish Home between 12 to 14 seats. Meanwhile, all polls agree that the Labour Party will be the second largest party with 16 to 18 seats.

However, the polls also indicate that smaller parties, previously thought of as unlikely to pass the two per cent minimum threshold needed to secure representation, may in fact enter the next Knesset. A Jerusalem Post poll puts the extreme right-wing Strong Israel party, the anti-corruption Eretz Hadasha party and the Power to Influence party headed by maverick Rabbi Amnon Yitzhak are close to passing the threshold. Incredibly, an Israel Radio poll predicts that Power to Influence will win four Knesset seats, while the pro-marijuana Green Leaf party will enter the Knesset with three mandates. Meanwhile, a Channel Two survey indicates that Strong Israel will secure two seats. It also predicts that Am Shalem, led by renegade Shas politician Rabbi Haim Amsalem, who supports greater ultra-Orthodox integration, will win two seats. The same survey suggests that Kadima, which is currently the largest party in the Knesset, will receive three mandates under the leadership of Shaul Mofaz.