is forecast to win between eight and 10 seats — is expected to play the role of kingmaker following Tuesday’s vote.
During his tenure as communications minister (2009-2012), Kahlon broke up a years-long monopoly within Israel’s mobile phone sector, and his election campaign has focused almost exclusively on economic issues, notably the housing crisis, a key issue for voters.
But Kahlon dismissed the offer as “spin”, saying Netanyahu had not made good on promises he made in the past.
“Netanyahu already promised me the position of head of the Israel Land Authority and the finance ministry and didn’t keep his word,” he wrote on Facebook, referring to the body which oversees land development.
In a poll published in the top-selling Yediot Aharonot on Friday, the Zionist Union was in the lead taking 26 of the Knesset’s 120 seats, followed by 22 for Likud.
Under Israel’s complex electoral system, the task of forming a new government does not automatically fall to the party that wins the largest number of votes.
The winner — and next prime minister — will be the one who can succeed in cobbling together a coalition commanding a parliamentary majority.
Friday’s last-minute poll predicted the rightwing and religious bloc would take 56 mandates and the same number for the centre-left and Arab parties.
And with Kulanu seen taking eight mandates, Kahlon’s decision on who to back is likely to be crucial.
Isaac Herzog, who heads the Zionist Union with former peace negotiator and centrist HaTnuah leader Tzipi Livni ridiculed Netanyahu’s latest offer.
“When Bibi goes down in the polls, he ups the lies,” he wrote on his Facebook page, recalling Netanyahu’s failed ILA promise to Kahlon just before the 2013 election.
“Two days before the 2015 elections, he is panicking again and this time has promised Kahlon the finance ministry, but nobody believes him any more,” he wrote.
Speaking to public radio, he acknowledged Kahlon would be “an important partner if I form the next government”.
On the ground, rightwing lobby groups were urging supporters to attend the Tel Aviv rally in a bid to increase support for rightwing and religious parties.
One of the organisers, “United Headquarters for the Land of Israel,” said the rally could “strengthen the parties which support the continuation of settlement in Judaea and Samaria (the West Bank)” and ensure the election of a government that will “stand bravely against pressure from the rest of the world”.
Netanyahu is expected to address the rally at 8:00 pm (1800 GMT) and Naftali Bennett, head of the ultra-nationalist Jewish Home party, is also expected to speak.