Polls: Majority of Israelis disapprove of government’s handling of Gaza crisis

According to one poll, 74 percent of Israelis disapproved of how the prime minister dealt with the confrontation with Hamas.

By TPS

Two polls done by Israeli television news outlets have shown that the majority of citizens are unhappy with the way Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu handled the Gaza flare-up this week.

According to a poll done by Channel 2 News on Wednesday night, 74 percent of Israelis disapproved of how the prime minister dealt with the confrontation with Hamas.

In addition, 69 percent of those who participated said they were dissatisfied with outgoing Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman’s performance, while 51 percent, were dissatisfied with the IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot.

In a similar poll conducted by Israel Public Broadcaster Kan, 36 percent rated Netanyahu’s performance following the flare-up with Hamas, as “very bad,” 29 percent rated it as “bad,” while 12 percent rated it as “good,” and only 7 percent said Netanyahu had done a “very good” job of dealing with the situation.

In addition, 64 percent were angered about the ceasefire, favoring expanded military operations in Gaza, while only 21 percent of those who took part said Israel needed to agree to the ceasefire with Hamas.

If snap elections were to be called now, Netanyahu’s Likud party would receive only 29 seats – which is down from 31 in March.

Yesh Atid would be in second position with 18 seats, while the Joint List would have 13 seats. Zionist Camp and Jewish Home would tie with 11 seats, Kulanu 8, Yisrael Beytenu 7, United Torah Judaism 7, Shas 6 and Meretz 6.

The Channel 2 poll also found that if former IDF chief of staff Benny Gantz were to lead a political party, Likud would drop to 24 seats, while Gantz’s party would take 15 seats, Yesh Atid 13, and the Zionist Union, 8.

Benjamin Netanyahupoll