The political system is hoping to regain public attention now that the teachers' strike, which threatened to put off the beginning of the school year, was averted.
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With the election campaigns about to pick up speed, Israel Hayom created an outline of the factions and the challenges that lie ahead of them.
Likud
Opposition Leader Benjamin Netanyahu is currently trying to unite factions of the right-wing bloc. He succeeded in his first task, uniting Itamar Ben-Gvir, head of the far-right Otzma Yehudit party and Bezalel Smotrich, leader of the Religious Zionist party, a move that will ensure that the two factions will cross the four-Knesset-seat electoral threshold and provide Netanyahu with a few more mandates to create a government.
The Likud chairman is now trying to do the same with ultra-Orthodox factions Agudat Israel and Degel HaTorah.
As for the election campaign, Likud is expected to stress the fact that Prime Minister Yair Lapid and Defense Minister Benny Gantz would rely on the Joint Arab List to create a government as well as the rising cost of living. It will also focus on encouraging voters to arrive at the elections as many decided to sit it out last time.
Yesh Atid
Yesh Atid is seeking to become the largest party in the bloc and to significantly increase other parties as well – with an emphasis on Gantz's State Party – in order to narrow the gap with the Likud. As parties finalize their lists, Lapid's main challenge is to unite Meretz and Labor, which will increase their chances of passing the electoral threshold and provide the prime minister with more Knesset seats.
The faction is also trying to remove small lists from the race that – according to the polls – will only burn votes, such as Eli Avidar, Hadar Muchtar or Yaron Zelekha's Economic Party.
As for the election campaign, Yesh Atid will work to get Lapid elected as prime minister and stress his statesmanship and ability to represent all Israelis, unlike Netanyahu, including the LGBTQ community. They are also expected to emphasize the repercussions of far-right leaders, such as Smotrich and Ben Gvir, becoming senior ministers.
Religious Zionist Party, Otzma Yehudit
After uniting, Smotrich and Ben Gvir are looking to become the third-largest political faction with a double-digit number of mandates.
Ben Gvir will focus campaign efforts on the periphery, the traditional public and young voters, and Smotrich will work to garner votes from the Religious Zionist sector.
Their main challenge is to prevent Netanyahu from getting the votes at the last minute, and to bring in the moderate Religious Zionist voters who are now considering Yamina leader Ayelet Shaked or even Kahana, a move that could bolster Netanyahu's bloc. Ben Gvir too will work to bring the voters to the booths on election day, as last time many did not arrive.
The State Party
Polls are not yet clear with regard to the alliance between Gantz, Justice Minister Gideon Sa'ar and former IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eizenkot.
Gantz is expected to work to prevent some of the votes from going to Yesh Atid and convince the public of his ability to form a government and unite the blocs after the elections.
In addition, Matam Kahana is expected to invest a lot of effort into the National Religious sector in an attempt to get some votes from Shaked.
Degel HaTorah and Agudat Israel
The conflict between Degel HaTorah, led by Moshe Gafni, and Agudat Israel continues as the two factions threaten to run separately. The official reason is an ideological difference on matters of education between the communities.
As mentioned above, Netanyahu is trying to resolve the crisis, although Haredi leaders have made it clear that he should not intervene.
Nevertheless, Degel HaTorah and Agudat Israel are expected to come to an understanding and run in the elections together.
Sephardi ultra-Orthodox party Shas
Leader Aryeh Deri does have not great challenges in submitting the party list. The campaign is expected to focus on the observant public, rather than the more stringent ultra-Orthodox sector, and cost of living. According to the polls, Shas is expected to garner eight seats in the upcoming elections.
Arab factions
There is a power struggle between Joint Arab list leader Ahmed Tibi, Ayman Odeh and the Balad party. The latter, which has only one representative, wants more places on the list and threatens to run separately unless its demand is met. If Balad fails to pass the electoral threshold, the votes that are lost could help Netanyahu in forming a government.
As for Ra'am, its mandates are not enough for the right bloc to form a government this time around, and the faction will need to rely on the Joint Arab List.
The Labor Party
Merav Michaeli finds herself in a difficult situation. Instead of launching a campaign, she is facing a campaign from Lapid to unite with Meretz, which undermines her faction in the polls and causes friction within the bloc. Her challenge will be to bothemphasize the differences between Labor and Meretz and present herself as a preferable choice to Gantz, Eisenkot, or Lapid.
Meretz
Besides criticizing Ben Gvir and Netanyahu, Meretz is expected to emphasize equality in all spheres and appeal to voters that are disillusioned with Labor, and even try to garner some votes from Yesh Atid.
The faction's main challenge is presenting how it is different from the Labor Party and bring in voters from the Arab sector.
Yisrael Beytenu
The party is expected to make changes to the list, but not drastic ones. As Finance Minister, Avigdor Lieberman's main challenge is that of the rising cost of living.
Lieberman could have prevented a significant electoral cost had the Finance Ministry not reached an agreement with the teachers' union.
He is already criticizing Netanyahu every possible platform and denies the possibility of working with the ultra-Orthodox factions. Yisrael Beytenu is expected to garner five Knesset seats, according to the polls.
