Poll shows that the party Likud of Benjamin Netanyahu would be the largest party in the Israeli Parliament if elections were held today, gradually recovering from the October 7, 2023 attacks.

The poll, published in the Ma’ariv newspaper, shows Likud would win 24 seats, up from 32 today, the highest since October 7. Benny Gantz’s National Unity Party would follow with 21 seats.

Netanyahu’s far-right ruling coalition would lose the election with 53 seats in the 120-member Knesset, compared to 58 for the opposition bloc.

But Likud’s performance alone shows how much Netanyahu has recovered since last year when his reputation was hit hard by the Israeli security fiasco that allowed the October 7 attacks by Hamas and allied groups to take place that killed 1,200 people. and took more than 250 hostages.

During the first period of the war in Gaza, opinion polls did not give Likud more than 16-18 seats.

The poll also shows that Netanyahu’s own image as prime minister is recovering, with respondents favoring him over every alternative candidate, except former prime minister Naftali Bennett, who is out of politics.

Despite tensions within the governing coalition between Netanyahu and his ministers, and despite ongoing protests by Israeli citizens demanding an agreement on the return of hostages from Gaza, the government has remained united and the next election will not be held until 2026, unless unexpected.

While Likud is steadily recovering, the same is not true of the two religious far-rights, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir’s Jewish Power party and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich’s Religious Zionism party. This fact is in itself a reason for the two far-right ministers not to leave the Netanyahu government coalition, since it is considered certain that they will hardly have the opportunity to participate in an Israeli government in the future.