41% of Israelis prefer Benny Gantz as prime minister: Poll

By Abdelraouf Arnaout

JERUSALEM (AA) — As Israel continues its onslaught on the Gaza Strip, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's popularity continues to plummet, with a recent opinion poll showing former War Cabinet member Benny Gantz with more public support.

According to a poll published Friday by Israeli daily Maariv, only 35% of respondents believe Netanyahu is fit for the position of prime minister, while 41% prefer Gantz, who is also the leader of the National Unity Party, resigned Sunday from the country's emergency unity government.

The results of the Lazar Institute poll also showed that 24% of the random sample of 501 Israelis had no answer for their choice of premier.

A clear majority of respondents, 74%, said they think Israeli public diplomacy on the Oct. 7 attack by Palestinian group Hamas has been unsuccessful. In contrast, only 15% consider believed it successful, while 11% had no opinion.

According to the poll results, if elections were held on the same day, the National Unity party would secure 24 out of 120 seats in the Knesset, or Israeli parliament. The Likud party, led by Netanyahu, would have 21 seats and the Yesh Atid party, headed by opposition leader Yair Lapid, would get 15.

The survey also indicated an unexpected surge in support for right-wing opposition party Yisrael Beiteinu, led by former Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman.

With the polling results, the party would have secured an 14 seats, up from nine seats in previous polls.

The newspaper noted that the bloc supporting Netanyahu's government would secure 52 seats, while the opposition would obtain 58 and Arab representatives 10.

To form a government in Israel, at least 61 votes are needed in the Knesset.

Given Netanyahu's reluctance to hold early elections, there are no imminent prospects of a vote in Israel, which has faced international condemnation amid its continued brutal offensive on Gaza since an Oct. 7, 2023 attack by Hamas despite a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire.

More than 37,200 Palestinians have since been killed in Gaza, most of them women and children, and over 85,000 others injured, according to local health authorities.

Eight months into the Israeli war, vast tracts of Gaza lay in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water and medicine.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, whose latest ruling ordered Tel Aviv to immediately halt its operation in the southern city of Rafah, where over a million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on May 6.

* Writing by Ikram Kouachi