Despite high support for the war
Israelis turn their backs on Netanyahu
January 2, 2024, 7:11 p.m
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Although many Israelis support military action to destroy Hamas, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu does not benefit from it. Quite the opposite: According to a new survey, few want him to stay in office long-term. A trend that has been observed since the Hamas attack.
According to a survey, not even one in six Israelis (15 percent) want Benjamin Netanyahu to remain prime minister even after the end of the Gaza war. This is the result of a published survey by the Israel Democracy Institute (IDI) – even though the majority of respondents support the continuation of the military offensive against Hamas ordered by Netanyahu.
In the survey, 23 percent of those surveyed were in favor of opposition politician Benny Gantz, a centrist politician and Netanyahu’s political rival, as prime minister. Around 30 percent wanted neither Netanyahu nor Gantz as head of government. Gantz currently sits in Netanyahu’s war cabinet. The liberal opposition politician Jair Lapid did not join the committee and justified this with the participation of right-wing radical parties in the government under Netanyahu.
56 percent of those surveyed believe military action is the best way to free the hostages held in the Gaza Strip from the hands of the radical Islamic Hamas and its allies. 24 percent support an exchange deal with Hamas, according to which hostages should be released and in return Palestinians should be released from Israeli custody. 129 people are still in the hands of Hamas. Around 100 hostages were released at the end of November in return for the release of imprisoned Palestinians.
Netanyahu has declared the destruction of Hamas his goal. In his view, the massive military pressure on the Gaza Strip is crucial to ensuring that the hostages still held there are released. Just on Saturday, Netanyahu said it would take months to achieve victory against Hamas.
Popularity has fallen significantly since the Hamas attack
Several polls have already shown that the conservative Likud politician’s popularity has declined significantly since Hamas’ surprise attack on Israel on October 7 and the massive Israeli counteroffensive. A poll in December found 69 percent of Israelis want a parliamentary election to be held as soon as the war ends.
Netanyahu was criticized, among other things, for the judicial reform that was recently overturned by the Supreme Court. In recent months there have also been allegations against the head of government that he is not doing enough to release all the hostages. In addition, many Israelis believe that the security authorities should have foreseen the Hamas attack on October 7th.
Netanyahu leads a coalition that is politically farther to the right than any before. In addition to his conservative Likud party, it also includes ultra-Orthodox and radical anti-liberal parties. They all reject a two-state solution with the Palestinians.