Voters Choose From 15 Lists as 3.25% Cutoff Decides Knesset Balance

Israelis vote today for the next Knesset, with the contest turning less on individual party platforms than on whether several smaller lists cross the 3.25% electoral threshold. Recent polls place the People of Israel party and the Reservists-Economic Party near that line, with their standings varying between surveys. Their returns could determine the balance between the two blocs.

The threshold sets the arithmetic. A list must draw at least 3.25% of the vote to win any seats at all. Parties below that line leave their supporters without representation in the next parliament, and their votes redistribute across the lists that cleared the bar. In a Knesset where bloc control may hinge on a handful of seats, that redistribution is the mechanism that decides which side organizes the government.

Benjamin Netanyahu leads Likud at the head of the right-wing bloc and his sitting coalition. Former IDF chief of staff Gadi Eisenkot leads Yashar, a centrist party whose stated focus is national security, government reform and replacing Netanyahu. Former prime minister Naftali Bennett leads B'Yachad, centered on government reform, economic growth and the enlistment of haredi men into the IDF. Yair Golan leads the Democrats, a left-wing Zionist party emphasizing liberal democracy, civil rights, education reform and greater equality in military service.

Avigdor Liberman's Yisrael Beytenu runs on national security, a tougher stance against Hamas and reducing the influence of religious parties in government. National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir's Otzma Yehudit advocates a hardline approach to security threats, expanded Jewish settlement and tougher law enforcement. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and Zehut leader Moshe Feiglin head Religious Zionist Party-Zehut, which supports expanding West Bank settlements, applying Israeli sovereignty over the territory and advancing judicial reform. Shas and United Torah Judaism prioritize the status of religious institutions and exemptions from IDF service for yeshiva students; both sit in the Netanyahu bloc.

The Joint List and Ra'am split the Arab Israeli vote differently. The Joint List emphasizes equality, civil rights and Palestinian national rights. Ra'am, led by Mansour Abbas, focuses on crime, funding and living conditions in Arab communities.

The lists at the threshold line carry specific conditions on any future coalition. Ofer Winter's People of Israel supports Netanyahu for prime minister, makes haredi enlistment a condition of joining a government, rejects blanket yeshiva exemptions and advocates voluntary emigration from Gaza. The Reservists-Economic Party, led by former minister Yoaz Hendel and economist Yaron Zelekha, says it will join only a Zionist government and demands a universal conscription law before a government is formed. Moti Leitner's Haredi Public Party offers an alternative to Shas and United Torah Judaism, backing broader haredi military or national service, core-curriculum studies including math and English, and accountability from haredi political leadership.

The parties' ballot letters appear next: Likud מחל, Yashar דרך, B'Yachad רק, Democrats אמת, Yisrael Beytenu ל, Otzma Yehudit ב, Joint List ודם, Ra'am עמ, Shas שס, United Torah Judaism ג, Religious Zionist Party-Zehut ט, People of Israel ך, Reservists-Economic Party די, Haredi Public זך.