Public wants Netanyahu to take responsibility for Oct. 7

Several high-ranking officials have taken responsibility for Hamas’s massive and brutal attack on the South on October 7, but 80% of Israelis are waiting for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to do the same, according to a Maariv poll published on Friday.

Netanyahu’s popularity has plummeted since October 7, with only 28% of Israelis preferring him as prime minister compared to 48% for  National Unity Party leader Benny Gantz.

While a majority of Likud voters still say they would prefer Netanyahu over Gantz, 69% of them think Netanyahu should take responsibility for the intelligence failure.

National Unity far in theoretical elections

Meanwhile, if elections were held today, the results would be similar to last week’s poll, with National Unity gaining 40 mandates over Likud’s 18, compared to Likud’s current 32.

Arye Deri’s Shas and Avigdor Liberman’s Yisrael Beytenu would both gain a seat, while far-right Otzma Yehudit and the Religious Zionist Party now trail Meretz (six) at five seats each.

Ra’am would lose a seat, just making it into Knesset with four seats. Labor, which took the country into the Yom Kippur war 50 years ago, still remains well below the threshold.

Over the past week, Israel has been waiting to see if the IDF is going to enter Gaza, and 65% of the poll’s respondents think it should.

On the other hand, only 30% of Israelis believe the IDF should begin a campaign against Hezbollah at the same time, with 51% saying that, for the moment, the army should deal with provocations in the North individually.

Despite Israel’s current situation, 65% of Israelis are optimistic about the future, the poll says, with the most optimistic sectors being the religious and ultra-Orthodox communities at 77%.