The survival war of the small parties: the dramas and the great comebacks

September 7 is the deadline for submitting party lists to the Knesset, and until that moment, the small parties are in a race against time. They must gain an audience, strengthen their standing in the polls, add well-known names, and answer the central question: do they have enough power to pass the electoral threshold? Alongside the large parties, several smaller political frameworks have been forming recently, which can currently be divided into two main centers.

In the first center are the "right-wing fragments" – parties and frameworks attempting to build power for themselves within the national camp. Ofer Winter is trying to build a political framework of his own, Moshe Feiglin is returning to the political arena with the "Zehut" party, and at the same time, Avi Maoz and "Noam" are also trying to build political power within the camp.

Each of these frameworks has its own target audience, messages, and agenda, but all of them face the question of whether they have enough power to pass the electoral threshold, and if not – whether the path to the Knesset will ultimately pass through a merger with another party or framework. On the other side, in the center of the political map, what is known as the "third bloc" is being built.

Here the picture is already more crowded; Yoaz Hendel and Chili Tropper are trying to build a joint framework, while Tropper's statement that the two would not sit with Benjamin Netanyahu caused a storm. Following the remarks, Hendel rushed to clarify that the intention was that the two would not provide Benjamin Netanyahu with the missing mandates for the sake of a narrow government. This skirmish illustrates one of the central questions surrounding the third bloc: what exactly it offers the public, and mainly what its people will do the day after the elections.

While Hendel and Tropper are trying to define their boundaries, Benny Gantz and Dadi Simhi are also trying to build their political home. At the same time, Gilad Erdan is moving forward with his framework, together with Yuli Edelstein, Aliza Bloch, Oren Smadja, and the new addition Hezi Nechama. These are three frameworks with partially overlapping audiences and a great many question marks.

The race for mergers is in full swing, and each of these parties must reach September 7 being able to prove that it has a reason to run alone. Ultimately, the question will be simple: who will pass the electoral threshold, who will unite at the last moment, and who will discover that their votes remained outside the Knesset.