“New situation, realistic conclusion.” This is how Knesset member Orly Levy-Abekasis on April 12 summed up her decision to jump ship from the political center-left to join the right-wing, ultra-Orthodox bloc led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Thus the woman whose tiny Gesher party had run on a joint ticket with Labor and Meretz in the March 2 elections, and who was elected to the Knesset by center-left voters after failing to cross the electoral threshold on her own in previous elections, crossed the political divide after the results came in.
According to Channel 12 News poll results released April 13, if elections were held today, Gesher and the Derech Eretz faction of Blue and White Knesset members Zvi Hauser and Yoaz Hendel would each garner some 1.4% of the vote, far below the 3.25% required for Knesset representation. In other words, the three lawmakers who deprived Blue and White Chair Benny Gantz of the Knesset majority he needed to form a government owe their seats to center-left parties and their center-left voters.
