3 months in war with Hamas, Netanyahu's popularity plummets; Israelis don't want him as PM after conflict ends

Almost three months in war with Hamas, popularity of Benjamin Netanyahu among his countrymen has plummeted. According to a recent poll, majority of Israelis said they do not want him to stay as the Prime Minister of the country after the conflict in Gaza ends. Merely 15 per cent of Israelis are in favour of Netanyahu to stay in office after the war on Hamas ends, found a survey conducted by the Israel Democracy Institute. Even though Netanyahu is not among the most favoured leader to lead the country, many Israelis continue to support his strategy of crushing the terrorists in the Palestinian enclave, the poll result showed Who, if not Netanyahu? For Israelis, their preferred prime minister after the war should be Benny Gantz. Almost a quarter (23 per cent) voted for the National Unity Party leader to be the PM. Position of other Israeli leaders in survey? Minister of Internal Security Ben-Gvir is preferred by 1.5 per cent, former head of the Mossad Yossi Cohen by 1 per ceny, Minister of the Economy Nir Barkat by 0.7 per cent, and Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant by just 0.5 per cent of respondents. Apart from Gantz, others from the moderate Right and the Center-Left who were named as preferred candidates for prime minister after the Israel-Hamas war ends included Naftali Bennett with 6.5 per cent and Yair Lapid with 6 per cent, and Minister Gadi Eisenkot as well as former MK Yair Golan received 0.5 per cent each. To gauge Israeli sentiments, the Israel Democracy Institute has been conducting survey on a monthly basis since 7 October attacks in which Hamas terrorists stormed into southern Israel, killing 1,200 people, mostly civilians and taking more than 240 people as hostage. Best way to recover hostages In the poll, 56 per cent of respondents said the military offensive was the best way to recover the hostages, while the remaining 24 per cent believed that a swap deal, including the release of more Palestinian prisoners from Israel’s jail would be the best alternative. Jewish and Arab Israelis were poles apart on this issue, with 65 per cent of the former pushing for a military solution and 62 per cent of the latter calling for a deal. A full 25 per cent of Arab respondents admitted that they had no answer for the wrenching issue. Should Israel agree to the US demand to shift to different phase? The survey asked respondents whether Israel should agree to the United States’ demand that the country shifts to a different phase of the war in Gaza, with an emphasis on reducing the heavy bombing of densely populated areas. A majority of the total sample (66 per cent) responded negatively to the question, while only around a quarter (23 per cent) answered in the affirmative. The difference between Jewish and Arab interviewees on the question was massive. While a large majority of Jews (75 per cent) oppose agreeing to this demand from the US, a majority of Arabs (56 per cent) are in favor of Israel meeting Washington’s demands and shifting to a different phase of the war. Netanyahu has vowed to continue with the war until Hamas is crushed and the more than 100 hostages, still held by the Hamas in Gaza, are freed. Is Israel succeeding in toppling Hamas? As per the survey report, many Israelis think the Netanyahu-led government and military have had only moderate success in meeting the wartime goals of toppling Hamas and bringing the hostages home. Only 26.8 per cent thought Israel had met the goal of toppling Hamas to a large extent, while 14 per cent thought Israel had largely succeeded in bringing the hostages home.