Israelis sharply divided over ceasefire with Hezbollah

Channel 12’s survey showed that 20% even say Israel “lost” in Lebanon, while a whopping 61% of Channel 13’s respondents said Israel “did not win.”

By Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News

Polls carried out by two Israeli television news channels Tuesday show that the public is sharply divided over the ceasefire deal with Hezbollah that came into effect Wednesday morning.

Channel 13’s survey had 37% against the agreement, 44% for it, and nearly a fifth, 19%, answering that they didn’t know.

Channel 12’s results were more evenly split, with only 37% thinking it was a good idea, 32% disagreeing, and a much larger minority, 31%, saying they were not sure.

In pointed contrast to the top Israeli officials who declared that Israel could declare victory over the Iranian terror proxy that had launched upwards of 20,000 missiles, UAVs, rockets, RPGs and other deadly projectiles at the Jewish state over the past year, fully 61% of the respondents in the Channel 13 poll said Israel “did not win.”

A quarter, 26%, said Israel won, and 13% said they did not know.

Channel 12’s group had a very different view, however, with 19% saying Israel “lost.” The largest group, 50%, believed that the result of the entire military confrontation was inconclusive, while 20% saying the Jewish state lost, and the rest saying they did not know.

Channel 12 broke down the respondents into Opposition and coalition supporters, and it revealed a perhaps troubling message to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his security cabinet colleagues, all of whom except for National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir voted in favor of the ceasefire.

Only one in five government supporters were in favor of the deal, with over double, 45%, saying they were against it. Almost the same percentage, 22%, opined that the bottom line was that Israel had actually lost to the terrorists.

The majority of them also disagreed with their politicians’ claims regarding the durability of the agreement, when asked by Channel 12 how much time they thought it would last. A mere 19% said it would last years, with 27% answering “a few months” and 38% saying it would collapse even faster.

Interestingly, the Opposition supporters were not tremendously hopeful either, with 27% saying it would last years, 29% answering “months” and 26% saying it would tank in only a short time.

In light of the shutdown of one front, Channel 13 added a question about the fighting in Gaza against Hamas, asking whether the government should end the war there and pursue a hostage deal.

Fully 66% of the respondents said it should be ended, while 27% said the IDF should continue fighting and seven percent answering that they did not know.