Support for Netanyahu Plummets Since Outbreak of Fighting, Poll Finds

by i24 News
OCTOBER 14, 2023 


Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu convenes a cabinet meeting at the Prime Minister’s office in Jerusalem, April 2, 2023. Photo: REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun/Pool

i24 News – Support for Prime Minister Benjamín Netanyahu has nosedived since the Hamas atrocities in Southern Israel of Saturday, and his ruling coalition would be driven from power if elections were held today, a poll published in the Ma’ariv daily Friday has found.

Only 29 percent of respondents thought Netanyahu should be prime minister, as opposed to 48 percent who preferred National Unity Party leader Benny Gantz. Some 23 percent replied “don’t know: in response to the question.”

And only 21 percent thought Netanyahu should be prime minister the day after the war, as opposed to 66 percent who chose the option of “someone else.”

If elections were held now, the center-right National Unity Party led by Gantz would receive 41 seats, the highest number won by any Israeli political party since 1992. The party currently holds only 12 seats in the current Knesset.

Netanyahu’s nationalist Likud party plummets to 19 seats, down from the 32 it currently has.

The poll also showed that parties making up the current 64-seat coalition would only win a combined total of 42 seats, way short of the 61 needed to form a majority coalition.

On Thursday the National Unity Party formally joined the coalition in an emergency government to fight the war with Hamas. Gantz, a former IDF Chief of Staff, will join Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and Netanyahu in a small war cabinet, along with two observers, one from the Likud and one from the National Unity Party.

Anger at the current Israeli government, for its perceived failure in not preparing for the war has been growing as the details of Saturday’s murderous assault by Hamas become clear. Environment Minister Idit Silman was forced to leave a hospital by angry, shouting Israelis, while at another hospital, Economy Minister Nir Barkat – seen as a future challenger for the Likud leadership – was subjected to an angry outburst.

It was Barkat too who, attending the funeral of one of the victims of Saturday’s slaughter, was forced to listen as the deceased’s brother railed at the government.

Senior Likud legislator David Bitan spotted sitting in a restaurant was harangued at by a passerby.

In a widely-circulated video clip this week, a resident of Southern Israel unleashed a furious tirade on the pro-Netanyahu Channel 14, shouting that the government and Knesset needed to go, while the anchor sat there uncomfortably, trying vainly to interrupt.

The Ma’ariv poll questioned 600 people on October 11-12, and had a margin of error of 4 percent.