Columnist admits prediction about third bloc in Israel was wrong — Jerusalem Post
In Israel, Jerusalem Post columnist Tzvika Klein admitted that his forecast regarding the emergence of an independent “third bloc” in Israeli politics was wrong. He had hoped that such a force could persuade moderate center-right and center-left parties to form a broad unity government.
According to Klein, polls indicate that the anticipated independent camp failed to take shape. Instead, the election campaign has once again focused on the question of supporting or rejecting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Attempts to unite parties
Klein noted that a shift in voter sentiment does not necessarily create a new political alliance: people dissatisfied with politicians may answer differently when asked who should lead the government. In his view, for the third bloc to succeed, it would have had to maintain unity, demand a broad government as a condition of support, and make the major parties dependent on its votes.
On September 4, Gilad Erdan withdrew his Unity party from the elections, citing insufficient support and unsuccessful attempts to reach an agreement on unification with other forces. An N12 poll showed that a potential joint list of Unity and Benny Gantz’s Kahol Lavan could receive 2.6% of the vote, below the 3.25% threshold for entering the Knesset.
More current news is available on the UA.News Telegram channel Telegram.
Erdan said that voters primarily want an answer to the question of who will be prime minister. According to Klein, negotiations over a joint list also revealed differences over leadership: Gantz explained to Walla that his insistence on leading the united list was driven by the need to lead this political path.
Small lists and the future coalition
In a Maariv poll conducted by Lazar Research on September 18, the joint list of Yoaz Hendel and Yaron Zelekha was projected to win four seats. The same result was projected for Ofer Winter’s “People of Israel” list, whose seats were counted toward Netanyahu’s camp. According to the poll, both lists were only slightly above the electoral threshold.
Klein noted that four seats can be of great importance in the 120-seat Knesset, where 61 seats are needed for a majority. At the same time, in his view, parties seeking to achieve a broad government need to explain whether they are ready to work under Netanyahu’s leadership and on what terms. The author stressed that the elections are still ahead and that the standings of small parties may change.
