92% of Israelis living in fear after Hamas invasion – poll

Survey shows that Jewish citizens overwhelmingly agree that the successful Hamas attack was a government-wide failure.

By Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News

Over half the public says Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu should take responsibility for the Hamas invasion Saturday that has led to the ongoing Operation Iron Swords, and resign after the war ends, Maariv reported Thursday, while nearly 100% of Israelis say they are fearful of the ongoing war.

The Dialogue Institute survey that questioned 620 Jewish Israelis revealed that whopping numbers blame the government for the Hamas cross-border attack that has so far claimed the lives of over 1,200 and injured close to 2,700, as well as seeing the kidnapping of approximately 150 Israelis and foreign nationals into the Gaza Strip.

Fully 84% believes that the Hamas success is a failure of the country’s leadership, including 79% of coalition supporters.

Even more, 94%, say the government is responsible for the situation that led to the breakdown of protection for the south in general and the Gaza envelope communities in particular.

Fifty-six percent believe that as a result, Netanyahu should resign at the end of the campaign. It may give Netanyahu pause to know that 28% of those who voted for one of the coalition parties agreed with the sentiment. A lesser majority, 52%, think Defense Minister Yoav Galant should resign then as well.

When asked if they trust that the government knows how to manage the war, 59% said they either only “somewhat trust” or “do not trust at all” that the powers-that-be are competent. A vast majority of Opposition party supporters, 88%, distrust the government’s capabilities in this sphere.

A large majority, 67%, including 56% of right-wing voters, even said that the failure to foresee and prevent Hamas’ assault is greater than that of the Yom Kippur War exactly 50 years ago.

In 1973, Israel read Syria and especially Egypt’s war preparations wrong and ignored intelligence warnings about the upcoming war, leading to the northern and southern front lines being overrun by the two Arab armies in a devastating war that saw mass graves being prepared in Tel Aviv parks and real fears that Israel would actually be destroyed, before the IDF turned the tides of war.

Almost all the respondents, 92%, said they were fearful after what happened on Saturday, with a third of them saying they were “very fearful.”