Netanyahu sounds attack on right-wing splinter parties, fearing ‘wasted’ votes will cost him the election
Left-wing victory would lead to ‘fascist regime’, cost thousands of lives, PM warns
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday started a campaign to eliminate the myriad right-wing parties still crowding the field in his bloc, as just about two weeks remain until the final registration of the parties that will participate in the late October elections.
In Israel’s election system, parties need to receive at least 3.25% of the vote to qualify for the Knesset, this being equal to four mandates in the 120-seat parliament. If a party falls short of this threshold, the votes “go to waste,” though this can be mitigated with redistribution agreements between the parties.
Netanyahu now faces a critical situation, as his party bloc has lagged behind the opposition for months and the number of contenders within it continues to grow.
In a Hebrew-language video published Monday, Netanyahu urged right-wing voters to show discipline and prevent a “fascist” left-wing government: “This election will be decided by every vote. Don’t waste your vote on small parties that may not pass the threshold and bring the left to power. Don’t waste votes. Keep the right. Vote for Likud.”
Knesset Seat Poll
— Israel Elects (@israel_elects) August 24, 2026
🔴Yashar: 24
🔵Likud: 22
🔴Together: 15
🔴Democrats: 11
🔴Yisrael Beteinu: 9 (-1)
🔵Otzma: 9 (+1)
🔵UTJ: 8
🟢Hadash-Ta'al-Balad: 7 (+2)
🔵Shas: 7
🔵RZP: 4 (-1)
🟢Ra'am: 4 (-1)
+/- Aug. 17
via Midgam/Chan12, Aug. 24 pic.twitter.com/psrgZeR9It
As of now, there are at least nine parties that aren’t part of the current Knesset but clearly identify as right-wing, competing for votes with the five parties of the current government coalition.
In the worst scenario, which is currently being projected by some pollsters, most or all of these parties would fail to cross the threshold while wasting numerous mandates, making Netanyahu’s reelection almost impossible.
These include Gilad Erdan’s new “The Unity” party; Moshe Feiglin’s right-libertarian Zehut; Noam of Avi Maoz, who quit the coalition; Sharren Haskel’s Israel First, which was recently joined by convicted spy Jonathan Pollard; former low-ranking Likud lawmaker Gadi Yevarkan’s Bait Israel; and the two new Haredi parties, “The Haredi Public,” and “HaKahal”.
Winter sinks Smotrich and weakens Likud slightly
— Israel Elects (@israel_elects) August 25, 2026
🔴Opposition Bloc: 60 (+1)
🔵Netanyahu Bloc: 45 (-5)
🟢Arab parties: 11
🟡Winter: 4 (+4) https://t.co/gmUPhmGmj0
Most worrying for Netanyahu is the yet-to-be-announced party of newly retired Brig.-Gen. Ofer Winter, who was wooed by several parties and is reportedly in talks to run together with pro-Israel activist Yoseph Haddad.
In Channel 12’s most recent poll, Yashar led the Likud with 24 to 22 mandates, with Eisenkot’s bloc receiving 59 and Netanyahu’s bloc receiving 50 seats, the rest going to the Arab parties.
However, in a poll with Winter running, he replaced Smotrich’s Religious Zionism with its four mandates, “wasting” the votes of Religious Zionism (2.4%) as well as Erdan’s party (0.8%) – around four full mandates.
Almost four more mandates would be “wasted” on Chili Tropper’s Zionist Home and Benny Gantz’s Blue and White parties in this scenario, though they aren’t clearly a part of Netanyahu’s bloc.
Knesset Seat Poll
— Israel Elects (@israel_elects) August 23, 2026
Scenario: Yousef Haddad, Netali Shem Tov, and Lali Deri join Winter
🔴Yashar: 24
🔵Likud: 22
🔴Together: 14
🔴Democrats: 10
🔴Beteinu: 10 (+1)
🔵Otzma: 8 (-1)
🔵Shas: 8
🔵UTJ: 7
🟢Hadash-Ta'al-Balad: 7
🟢Ra'am: 5
🟡Winter: 5 (+5)
🔵RZP: 0 (-5)
+/- headline…
The prime minister’s appeal was timed to come a day before Winter’s expected announcement on Tuesday, and came a day after Channel 12 reported that Netanyahu’s strategy would be to attack Winter and ignore Erdan, while forcing the other parties – through various means – either to unite, merge with Likud, or exit the race entirely.
Likud officials reportedly pressured Netanyahu to prevent Winter and Haddad from running together by offering Haddad one of the reserved slots on the Likud list. According to Israel Hayom, Haddad is demanding three spots in the top ten on Winter’s list, being convinced that, even if he ran alone, he would clear the electoral threshold through his broad appeal to younger right-wing voters.
The religiously observant Winter is reportedly planning to attack Netanyahu from the right on security issues while committing to his bloc and ruling out a coalition with Eisenkot.
However, Channel 13 reported Tuesday that he is also not ruling out joining a government led by hawkish opposition leader Avigdor Liberman, leaving open the possibility of creating a broad unity coalition without the Likud, but with parties like Zionist Home and Erdan’s Unity.
People close to Winter told Channel 12, “For three years there has been no decisive outcome in any arena; Gazans have still not been expelled, there is no [judicial] reform and no [ultra-Orthodox] conscription.”
“Anyone who thinks that after October 7 everything will remain the same and that the right will go to the elections in the same way is disconnected from reality,” they added.
In his video message, Netanyahu attacked the opposition with some of the harshest language in the election campaign so far, warning that Israel paid for the last left-wing government in 1992 with the Oslo Peace Accords, and “with thousands upon thousands of murdered citizens and thousands of casualties, and we are still dealing with this problem today, all stemming from that mistake, where splinter right-wing parties fell out and brought down the right-wing government.”
If the other side wins, he intoned, they will “immediately surrender; they will sell the state.”
“There’ll be a fascist regime” clamping down on free speech, including by “closing the internet” and the pro-Netanyahu Channel 14, Netanyahu warned.
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