Trump is calling the shots on Israel’s security policies, Israelis say

Less than a quarter of Israelis believe the Netanyahu government is the primary decision-maker when it comes to Israel’s security decisions, a new poll shows.

By World Israel News Staff

Less than one-in-four Israelis believe the Netanyahu government is in the driver’s seat when it comes to making decisions regarding Israel’s security, according to a new poll.

On Tuesday, the Israel Democracy Institute published the results of a new survey, conducted by the IDI’s Viterbi Family Center for Public Opinion and Policy Research from November 2nd to the 6th, polling 604 Israeli Jews and 152 Israeli Arabs.

The IDI study found that 44% of Israelis – including 45% of Israeli Jews – believe that the Trump administration has greater influence than the Israeli government over security decisions relating to Israel.

By contrast, just 23% of Israelis – and 24% of Israeli Jews – said the Israeli government had more influence, while 28% of Israelis and 26% of Israeli Jews believe Israel and the US have equal influence.

Left-wing and centrist Israelis were more likely to believe the US has greater influence over Israeli security policy than Jerusalem, with 64% of leftists and 54% of centrists saying the Trump administration was the primary decision-maker, compared to 37.5% of right-wingers.

The poll also surveyed Israelis regarding their views on how successful Israel has been in achieving its goals in its war against the Hamas terror organization.

While the vast majority of respondents (72%) said Israel was very or largely successful in returning all of the hostages, few believe that the other major goals have been achieved.

Just 30.5% say Israeli security control over Gaza has been successfully achieved, while only 19% believe that Israel has mostly succeeded in demilitarizing the Gaza Strip.

Even fewer (18%) believe Israel has largely succeeded in disarming Hamas, while just 12% believe Israel has been very successful in ensuring that neither Hamas nor the Palestinian Authority has control over the Gaza Strip following the end of the war.