The final opinion polls – released on Friday ahead of a four-day moratorium on publishing surveys of voter intentions – put the centre-left Zionist Union, headed by opposition leader Yitzhak Herzog and former peace negotiator Tzipi Livni, ahead with 25 to 26 seats, and Netanyahu's Likud taking 20 to 22 in the 120-seat Knesset.
"We've changed," says Naftali Bennett, leader of the Jewish Home party, which holds 12 Knesset seats.
By adding a minister and an additional Knesset member to the existing nine-strong committee, politicians would gain the upper hand; the legal profession currently has a majority, with three Supreme Court justices and two members of the bar association.
He had been negotiating with the right-wing and religious parties to build a solid block of 67 seats in the 120-member Knesset.
But he was never rebuked for it by, say, Mr Netanyahu.In sum, despite Mr Netanyahu's glum espousal of the two-state idea in his speech at Bar-Ilan, proponents of a state of Israel that encompasses all or most of the West Bank are plainly the strongest force in the Knesset.
Mind-boggling maths ReprintsThe prime minister needs at least 61 votes in the 120-seat Knesset.
Some Labour sources claimed that this was in fact the intention, and that if Shas, the largest Orthodox party with 17 Knesset seats, returned to the coalition fold, the whole thing would be quietly forgotten.The surprise launch of the civil revolution came shortly after a blistering public attack on Mr Barak from a close aide who has resigned.
Though Mr Barak did well, his party did not, winning only 26 seats in the 120-seat Knesset.
His comments come before a crucial Knesset debate on Monday, called by 25 members of the Israeli parliament, to discuss the progress – or lack of it – of the peace initiative sponsored by the US secretary of state, John Kerry, and the government's failure to secure the release of the Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard.
Those who accompanied the PM to the Middle East were struck by his sincere and heartfelt support for Israel in his speech to the Knesset, the Israeli parliament, promising to be with the country "every step of the way".
He survived, but in the long run this defeat augurs ill: though Mr Barak was directly elected, the prime minister still needs a stable parliamentary majority to govern.For now, Mr Barak, shrugging off his Knesset setback, is concentrating on the short run, and the dramatic changes it could hold in store.
