🇮🇱 E1 HOUSING ADVANCES AS LIKUD VOTES, POLLS DIVERGE AND COLOMBIA RECOVERY CONTINUES
🕑 Published: August 19, 2026 · 12:30 AM Israel time
🏗️ E1 HOUSING MARKETING BEGINS: Marketing has begun for the first approximately 1,400 housing units in the E1 area after more than three decades of delays and international pressure. The plan is intended to connect Ma’ale Adumim with Jerusalem and create Israeli settlement contiguity in the area.
Western countries have previously warned that E1 construction would “divide the West Bank in two.” Ma’ale Adumim Mayor Guy Yifrah described the start of marketing as one of the greatest achievements for Israel and Ma’ale Adumim and said the longstanding vision was now becoming reality.
🗳️ LIKUD PRIMARIES AND ELECTION POLLING: Final turnout in the Likud primaries reached 54%, with 76,068 members voting. Prime Minister and Likud Chairman Benjamin Netanyahu said the resulting slate reflects renewal and the integration of new figures near the top, while candidates reserved for appointment by him would further strengthen it.
Netanyahu predicted a major Likud victory and the rapid formation of a broad national government, arguing that this was necessary to prevent what he described as a left-wing government involving Eisenkot, Yair Golan, Liberman and the Arab parties. He also thanked candidates who failed to secure list positions and said he intended to involve them in the election campaign.
A Channel 14/NEXT DATA poll projects the Netanyahu-aligned bloc at 63 seats: Likud 32, Shas 10, Otzma Yehudit 8, UTJ 7 and Religious Zionism 6. Eisenkot’s Yashar receives 24 seats and Bennett-Lapid’s Together 6.
Channel 14 remains the highest Netanyahu-bloc projection among the cited major polls. Maariv projects 48 seats, Channel 13 49, Channel 12 50, KAN 52 and i24NEWS 59. Across all six surveys, the simple equal-weight average is approximately 53.5 seats and the median is 51, leaving the broader polling picture short of a clear 61-seat majority.
Eisenkot’s Yashar is comparatively stable at around 23–24 seats, while much of the variation comes from Likud, which ranges between 21 and 32, and Together, which ranges between 6 and 15. The 3.25% electoral threshold remains a major variable because several parties are polling below it, while possible Arab-party unification could reduce the number of votes lost beneath the threshold.
Taken together, the cited polling shows Channel 14 offering a viable path to a Netanyahu majority but at the upper end of the range; the broader set of surveys points more toward a hung Knesset, with the Netanyahu bloc averaging in the low-to-mid 50s. Liberman said he would not join a 58-seat minority government. President Trump did not endorse a candidate, saying it was best to stay out of Israel’s elections while leaving open the possibility of endorsing someone later.
🌎 COLOMBIA EARTHQUAKE RESPONSE: Approximately one week after the earthquake, operations are transitioning toward recovery following the Colombian government’s declaration, while searches for missing people continue.
Personnel from the “Alliance of Brothers” delegation are operating alongside Colombian and international search-and-rescue teams at major disaster sites in Cali and have contributed to locating and rescuing 17 missing people. The next phase will place greater emphasis on mapping and assessing damaged structures while continuing efforts to locate additional missing people.
The IDF said the Israeli delegation is providing search-and-rescue expertise, advanced capabilities, technologies and tools intended to support both ongoing life-saving efforts and the subsequent recovery phase.
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