Netanyahu piles pressure on small parties to drop out of election race

Hind Al Soulia - Riyadh - JERUSALEM— With just four days remaining until Israel's elections, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is pushing small right-wing parties to withdraw from next week’s tight election over fears they could siphon off votes.

Ahead of the October 27 election, polls show Netanyahu’s right-wing bloc neck and neck with that of his main center-right rival Gadi Eisenkot.

The main target of Netanyahu’s push has been Ofer Winter, founder of the new far-right Amcha Israel party, which is polling around the 3.25 percent electoral threshold needed to enter parliament.

Should they fail to clear the bar, tens of thousands of right-wing votes would be lost.

Winter vowed Wednesday to remain in the race despite mounting pressure from Netanyahu and his Likud party to withdraw.

Speaking to i24NEWS, Winter expressed confidence that his party would cross the electoral threshold, dismissing polls suggesting otherwise.

"We are running all the way, and we will cross the electoral threshold," Winter declared. "I am very confident because we have our own data, not polls or surveys. We have more than 180,000 people who will support us all the way, despite the aggressive campaigns and various forms of pressure directed against us. We entered politics to bring about change, and we are determined to succeed."

Addressing Netanyahu's campaign to persuade him to withdraw, Winter said he had been surprised by the prime minister's approach.

On Thursday, Netanyahu posted an image on X depicting Winter smiling while burning votes, with a caption warning that voting for parties below the electoral threshold would cause a coalition of opposition parties to win power.

Netanyahu and a key coalition partner, hawkish Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, have for days accused Winter of endangering their bloc’s chances and have sought to convince him to abandon his candidacy.

On Tuesday, the two met with Winter’s spiritual mentor, Rabbi Eli Sadan, in an apparent bid to increase pressure on the retired commander.

A day later, Smotrich went public with an offer, promising Winter a ministerial post in the next government if he agreed to drop out of the race.

Winter had initially pledged to support a future Netanyahu-led coalition on condition it advances the conscription of ultra-Orthodox Jewish men.

The issue has become increasingly contentious as the military grapples with manpower shortages while most ultra-Orthodox men continue to receive exemptions from compulsory service.

But Winter has resisted calls to step aside. On Wednesday, he said it “may not have been right” to announce his support for Netanyahu in advance, but has vowed not to support Eisenkot.

Netanyahu has also reportedly sought the withdrawal of Moti Leitner, founder of a new ultra-Orthodox party that aims to challenge the dominance of two established ultra-Orthodox factions allied with the prime minister.

Israeli media reported that Netanyahu met Leitner on Tuesday to urge him to quit the race, but the young politician refused.

Although his party is polling well below the electoral threshold, it could still attract tens of thousands of religious voters who might otherwise back Netanyahu’s traditional allies.

Earlier this week, another small party dropped out of the race. Benny Gantz announced he was withdrawing from the election after opinion polls consistently showed his Blue and White party far below the threshold.

Gantz was Netanyahu’s principal rival in the 2019 and 2020 elections before serving alongside him in national unity governments during the Covid-19 pandemic and after the outbreak of the war in 2023.