Three-Quarters of Israelis Want Netanyahu To Go
April 11—Recent opinion poll indicates that three-quarters of Israelis want Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to resign. A poll by Kan public broadcaster and Channel 12 published surveys on April 7, to coincide with the six-month milestone since the war on Gaza started on Oct. 7, which showed the current government would be ousted if elections were held immediately.
Kan reported that 42% of Israelis believe Netanyahu should resign immediately, and 29% that he should step down after the war concludes, making a total of 71% seeking his ouster. Only 21% said Netanyahu doesn’t need to resign and 8% said they don’t know. Two-thirds of respondents said elections should be held before the end of the year.
In addition, 44% said there should be elections within a few months, 22% want elections sometime over the coming year, and 26% said there should only be elections when they are next due, in October 2026. Another 8% said they don’t know. The Channel 12 poll found that 50% believe there should be early elections.
The Kan poll showed that 45% believe Netnanyahu holds overall responsibility for the failure in the Oct. 7 attacks while 35% put the blame on IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi and the head of the Shin Bet security service. Regarding performance in handling the war, 68% said Netanyahu is not doing well, compared to 29% who said he is, and 3% who said they don’t know. Asked if the government is “doing enough to bring back the hostages,” 56% respond no and 39% said it is. Another 5% said they don’t know. The Channel 12 poll found that 49% think Netanyahu is acting out of political interests, compared to 35% who said he is acting for practical reasons. The remaining 16% said they don’t know.
In recent developments, New Hope leader Gideon Sa’ar pulled his party out of the government in a spat over seats in the three-person war cabinet that is overseeing the war. He also earlier split his alliance with the National Unity Party led by Benny Gantz.
While both polls show that if elections were held, Netanyahu’s coalition would lose, there would not be an overwhelming victory for the opposition in the 120-seat Knesset. The Kan poll gives Gantz’s National Unity party 30 seats and Channel 12 predicts 32 seats, while Netanyahu’s Likud Party would get 21 seats. Yesh Atid, another opposition party, would get 14, in the Kan poll, and 19 and 15, respectively, according to Channel 12. This compares with Likud’s current 32 seats in the Knesset, Yesh Atid 24, and National Unity 8 seats.
Not insignificantly, the Kan poll showed gains for far-right Otzma Yehudit led by the insane National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, with 10 seats compared to the 6 it currently holds. Channel 12 gave Otzma Yehudit 9 seats. This increase would seem to be at the expense of the far-right party Religious Zionism, led by equally insane Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, which both Kan and Channel 12 said would not be able to enter parliament.
On the other side of the spectrum the pro peace Ma’aretz, which failed to enter the parliament in the last election, will garner enough votes to enter in the next elections. The Labor Party will not make it.
The Kan poll shows that Gantz could potentially form a government with 63 seats in the Knesset, while Netanyahu’s bloc had just 48 seats. Channel two gave Gantz’s bloc 68 seats and Netanyahu’s 47. It should be noted that Gantz’s coalition, while it might include peace parties such as Ma’aretz, will not be comparable with the coalition led in 1993 by Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin which signed the Oslo Accords. The war has shifted much of the population to the right.
