A new poll published Thursday by The Times of Israel’s sister site, Zman Yisrael, showed the bloc of Zionist parties not aligned with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu could muster enough seats for a majority on their own if elections were held today, a first for a major survey in recent months.

A separate poll aired by Israel’s Channel 12 News showed Gadi Eisenkot, leader of the new Yashar party, was preferred over Netanyahu as prime minister for the first time. That survey however did not have any bloc gaining a 61-seat Knesset majority needed to form a government.

According to the Zman poll, the 500 survey respondents gave the anti-Netanyahu Zionist bloc 62 seats, including Benny Gantz’s Blue and White, which would squeeze into the Knesset with four seats.

Parties aligned with Netanyahu won 50 seats in the survey, with the two mainly Arab parties, Ra’am and Hadash-Ta’al, having won the remaining eight seats in the 120-member Knesset.

Israel must hold elections by October 27, but may do so a little earlier, with a bill to dissolve parliament and move up voting day currently advancing in the Knesset.

The rise in support for the anti-Netanyahu Zionist bloc came despite Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich’s Religious Zionism party having also crossed the threshold in the poll with four seats.

Previous surveys showed anti-Netanyahu parties falling short of 61 seats without the support of Arab factions.

The survey scored the parties as follows: Likud: 23 seats; Together led by Naftali Bennett: 21; Yashar led by Eisenkot:........

© The Times of Israel