Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is ramping up his political consultations amid growing concern that his governing coalition could unravel when the Knesset reconvenes in October.

The increased activity comes as new polling shows Netanyahu’s Likud party losing ground. A Channel 12 survey released Sunday found Likud would win just 24 seats if elections were held today — down from 32 in the November 2022 election and a drop from 27 in last week’s poll. The poll also showed Netanyahu’s bloc falling to 49 seats, compared with 61 for the opposition and 10 for Arab parties in the 120-seat Knesset.

Netanyahu is not seeking early elections, according to reporting from Ynet, but has been engaged in a series of strategy sessions to shore up his bloc after Shas and United Torah Judaism left the government over the failure to pass legislation granting draft exemptions for yeshiva bochurim. The next elections are set for no later than October 2026.

One key issue under discussion is whether to push for a renewed alliance between Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich’s Religious Zionism party and National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir’s Otzma Yehudit party. The two far-right factions ran together in the last election but have since split, raising concerns that a divided vote could weaken Netanyahu’s bloc further.

Another concern is the Noam party, a socially conservative faction that has previously allied with Smotrich and Ben Gvir. Netanyahu reportedly worries that if Noam runs separately, it could siphon off votes from Likud.

The prime minister is also weighing the idea of forming a satellite party to appeal to right-wing voters dissatisfied with both Likud and its far-right partners but unlikely to back former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett or Avigdor Liberman. Possible leaders floated for such a party include former Mossad chief Yossi Cohen and ex-generals Ofer Winter and Dedi Simchi, though Ynet reported none has yet proven a strong draw.

Inside Likud, Netanyahu has also been working to consolidate power. Reports indicate he is pushing to finalize a merger with Gideon Sa’ar’s New Hope party and exploring ways to delay elections for the Likud Central Committee, which could reinforce his control over the party’s internal machinery.

The poll that sparked the latest flurry of political maneuvering showed Bennett’s new party rising to 20 seats, with former IDF chief Gadi Eisenkot’s breakaway faction at 12. Avigdor Liberman’s Yisrael Beytenu and Yair Golan’s Democrats each polled at 11 seats, while Yair Lapid’s Yesh Atid came in at 7.

Far-right Otzma Yehudit would win 6 seats, Religious Zionism 4, and both Hadash-Ta’al and Ra’am would receive 5 each.

While several new factions appear to be reshaping the opposition landscape, the poll suggests little change in the overall balance of power: the opposition with a slim 61-seat majority and Netanyahu’s bloc trailing at 49.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)