Israeli PM Netanyahu's popularity drops at home after Hamas attack

Tribune Web Desk

Vibha Sharma

Chandigarh, October 14

Contrary to expectation, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s popularity back home appears to be dropping despite his "campaign of retaliation" against "enemies with unprecedented might".

According to observers, while political leaders often receive a boost on issues related to country, nationality and flag, the enormity of Hamas' deadly attack seems to have exposed the “ineptness and failure of much-celebrated Israeli intelligence and security system, denting people’s faith in the country’s leadership”.  

In May, Israel’s five-day offensive in the Gaza Strip had reversed weeks of slipping popularity ratings for Netanyahu and his Likud party, according to reports quoting surveys released by Channel 12 news, Channel 13 news and the Kan public broadcaster.

Observers explain that "India’s air strikes against Pakistan illustrated the decisiveness of its leadership and increased the chances of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to retain power in 2019. People and markets usually react positively to issues related to nationality, flag, country. In the case of Israel, however, the Hamas attack in October is perhaps the biggest intelligence failure Israel has suffered in 50 years and it has been under Netanyahu’s watch”.

Netanyahu’s popularity drops  

The longest serving Israeli PM has been no stranger to controversy with a series of graft cases, legal issues and scandals plaguing his three-decade political career.

However, a poll conducted by Lazar Research Laboratories (a research institute) for the Maariv newspaper may hit him and his party where it hurts the most.

According to agency reports, Netanyahu's popularity dropped since Hamas’s devastating attack last weekend in contrast to Benny Gantz, a former general who’s now part of Israel’s “war cabinet”.

“The survey, published by Maariv newspaper on Friday and carried out by Lazar Research in partnership with Panel4All, showed opposition parties would win a crushing majority against Netanyahu’s coalition if elections were held now,” agencies stated quoting Maariv, a Hebrew-language daily newspaper founded in 1948.

“The survey, published by Maariv, gives the centrist National Unity 41 seats, up from the 12 it currently holds. Likud, meanwhile, drops to just 19 seats, well below the 32 it currently has. The poll gives hardline parties Otzma Yehudit and Religious Zionism five and four seats respectively. The two garnered 14 seats together in the last election. Ultra-Orthodox parties are also seen losing a modicum of support.

“The results show how much the Hamas massacre, which saw the terror group rampage through southern Israel, killing at least 1,300 and taking some 150 hostages, has punctured people’s faith in the country’s leadership and their claims of being the only ones who could secure the country,” wrote the Times of Israel—an Israeli multi-language online newspaper launched in 2012.

“Respondents show a marked preference for Gantz over Netanyahu leading the country. They give IDF chief Herzi Halevi a 57% approval rating, Defence Minister Yoav Gallant a 54% rating, with Netanyahu only getting 42%. Even among likely Likud voters, Netanyahu only gets 67%.

“Despite the issues exposed in Saturday’s onslaught, 71% say they are somewhat trusting the IDF to protect the country.

“The survey polled 600 people on October 11 and 12,” it stated. 

No stranger to controversy

With more than 16 years in office, in the current term Benjamin “Bibi” Netanyahu has been PM since December 2022. 

He previously held the office from 1996 to 1999 and 2009 to 2021.

He is the chairman of the Likud party and also the first PM to be born in Israel after its Declaration of Independence.

Netanyahu is, however, no stranger to controversy, having faced "international criticism over his policy of expanding Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank”, which is deemed illegal under international law.

“In 2019, Netanyahu was indicted on charges of breach of trust, bribery and fraud, following a three-year investigation, due to which he relinquished all his ministry posts other than the PM position,” according to reports.

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