Soldiers cast ballots from operational posts
IDF soldiers are voting in Israel’s national elections at locations ranging from an army post in southern Lebanon to a missile boat off the coast of Eilat.
Winter resists withdrawal as Smotrich prepares offer
Netanyahu is demanding that Ofer Winter withdraw from the election race. Winter said:
“We’re in the right-wing camp, but there won’t be a blank check here.”
Following Winter’s remarks, Yoseph Haddad said:
“We will recommend Netanyahu, even when Netanyahu himself works against us. We can advance our principles only in a broad right-wing government.”
Religious Zionism said Smotrich would make a major announcement in the coming hours. His proposed offer would give Winter a ministerial position within the Defense Ministry, drawn from the quota his party intends to demand, in exchange for withdrawing from the race.
The position would include authority to establish an administration for voluntary migration from Gaza and another for recruiting and integrating ultra-Orthodox Jews into the military.
In an interview on “The Daily Edition” with Almog Boker, Winter said:
“It may have been a mistake to announce at the beginning of the campaign that we would only endorse Netanyahu.”
He added:
“Sometimes I wonder whether it’s right or wrong, but that’s irrelevant. I’m a man of truth, and I belong to the national camp. Even if they smear us, I’m not going to say, ‘Now I’ll switch to the other side.’ It’s possible that it wasn’t necessarily the right thing to say in the first place.”
Leitner says Netanyahu asked him to withdraw
Amid pressure from Netanyahu, Leitner was due to deliver a statement this evening. He said he was not withdrawing.
Leitner said:
“Netanyahu asked me last night to resign. I made it clear to him that there is no reason to discuss concrete steps as long as the ultra-Orthodox parties refuse to commit to supporting the measures and reforms Netanyahu promised to advance for the ultra-Orthodox community.”
Eisenkot rules out serving under Netanyahu
Eisenkot said:
“I unequivocally pledge that I will not serve under Netanyahu, not even in a rotation arrangement.”
Likud accuses Ben Gvir of false claims
In a statement directed at Ben Gvir, Likud said:
“He is spreading blatant and outrageous lies about the Prime Minister.”
Attorney General bars live broadcast of Netanyahu speech
The Attorney General instructed that Netanyahu’s speech today at the officer training course graduation ceremony not be broadcast live, “due to concerns about prohibited election campaigning.”
Bennett pledges to repeal legislative changes
Bennett promised to repeal the changes to the Judicial Selection Committee, the Police Internal Investigations Department Law, the Attorney General Law and the Communications Law.
Election polls show differing coalition arithmetic
Channel 14’s poll projects 62 seats for Netanyahu’s bloc. It reports one-seat gains for both Deri and Bennett, while Winter and Yaron Zelekha fail to cross the electoral threshold.
Channel 13 described its poll tonight as showing a weakening Netanyahu bloc and also placed Winter below the threshold. Its listed seat projections include Eisenkot with 20, Netanyahu with 19, Bennett with 14, Yair Golan with 10, United Torah Judaism and Smotrich with eight each, and Hendel and Zelekha with four.
Channel 13’s bloc breakdown gives Netanyahu’s bloc 49 seats, the opposition bloc 52, Arab parties 15, and Hendel and Zelekha four.
A midweek poll roundup lists these paired seat figures:
- Channel 12, 55–51
- Channel 13, 52–49
- Channel 14, 44–62
- Channel 15, 48–58
- Channel 16, 52–50
The roundup does not identify which bloc each number represents or give individual polling dates.
