The Netanyahu government became increasingly unpopular as it became clear that it wouldn’t achieve its proclaimed goals in Gaza [Photo by Mostafa Alkharouf/Anadolu via Getty Images]
A new poll has revealed that only four percent of Israelis believe their government has achieved its war goals in Gaza and that if an election was held, the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would fall.
The poll, carried out by the Lazar Research Institute and published by Israeli newspaper Maariv, revealed Israeli perceptions about a range of issues including Israel’s war on Gaza and the ceasefire, support for the government, and other political issues.
517 people took part in the poll, which included both Israel’s Jewish and Palestinian population, and has a sampling error of 4.4 percent.
Asked in the context of the ongoing ceasefire in the enclave, captive exchanges and re-entry of Palestinians to northern Gaza, 57 percent of Israelis said that they believed the war cannot be said to be over, compared to 31 percent who thought it could, and 12 percent who didn’t know.
When asked if the return of Palestinians to northern Gaza meant Israel had achieved its war goals, four percent said it had while 32 percent said the goals have not fully been achieved, and 57 percent said the goals had not been achieved at all. 7 percent said they didn’t know.
Roughly 300,000 Palestinians have returned to northern Gaza since the ceasefire began, to the remains of their destroyed homes and to reunite with family members. At least 47,354 people have been killed by Israel’s brutal war on Gaza with a further 111,563 wounded.
At the beginning of the war Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel would seek to achieve “total victory” in the war, meaning the complete destruction of Hamas so that it would never be able to govern the enclave again.
This came after the Hamas-led attack on Israel on 7 October that killed around 1,200 people. Around 250 were also taken captive.
However, the beginning of the ceasefire in Gaza saw Hamas come out in a display of full force, with Hamas fighters displaying an array of military hardware and pickup trucks during captive exchanges with the International Committee of the Red Cross.
Since the beginning of a ceasefire in Gaza, 10 Israelis and five Thai nationals have been released from the enclave in exchange for 400 Palestinians in Israeli prisons. Three more were released on Saturday, in exchange for 183 Palestinian prisoners – 32 of whom have been released so far..
Asked whether the ceasefire deal would be implemented in full, 36 percent of poll respondents said yes and 36 percent said no, while 28 percent of respondents said they don’t know.
When surveying how an election would play out, the poll revealed that the opposition bloc would win a majority in the 120-member Knesset against Netanyahu’s current coalition with 61 seats to 44 seats, with Palestinian parties excluded.
Dr Yair Wallach, a Reader in Israeli Studies at SOAS, told The New Arab that the poll was not surprising as the Netanyahu government has never won the support of most of the Israeli public, with its popularity declining after the ceasefire.
Wallach noted that the government has been unable to achieve its desired victory for a number of reasons of its own making.
“The government’s war aim of a ‘total victory’ was unachievable by definition”, Wallach said, adding that “removing Hamas from power requires Israel to agree to alternative power brokers in Gaza – and the government refused to do so.”
Moreover, “for the government, the survival of Hamas gives it an excuse to resume the fighting and renew ethnic cleansing. So the government also did not want to achieve its stated aim.”
However, Wallach cautioned against assuming that the government would be defeated in any elections, noting that its not known when elections would take place, nor if Israel’s Palestinian population would be able to meaningfully take part.
Legislation currently being pushed through the Knesset could see restrictions added on candidates by widening the definition of expression support for armed struggle against the State of Israel and Israeli citizens.
The legislation has stoked fears that Palestinian citizens of Israel could be barred from candidate positions, as well as Israeli Jews that are anti-occupation.
“Netanyahu is an incredibly savvy politician, far more than his adversaries. It is too soon to write his political obituary, even if his chances of political survival beyond the next elections look extremely low,” Wallach said.
