58% of Israelis fear a civil war amid judicial reform crisis

58% of Israelis fear a civil war and almost half of Israelis believe the IDF's readiness will be harmed by the approval of the reasonableness standard law, a poll by Maariv found on Friday.

The poll, conducted by Lazar Research headed by Dr. Menachem Lazar, also found that 38% of Israelis are not concerned about a civil war breaking out, while 4% are unsure. The main concern about such a war comes from opposition voters (76%), while 55% of coalition voters are not concerned about it.

In terms of the IDF's readiness after the approval of the reasonableness standard bill, 49% of respondents were concerned about the readiness being harmed, while 45% said they believed there would be no harm to the IDF's readiness.

When asked if they were considering leaving the country due to the approval of the law and the strife in Israeli society, 4% said they were already taking practical steps to do so, 22% said they were considering it, and 68% said they were not considering doing so. The group of respondents who said they were considering leaving included 36% of opposition voters and 7% of coalition voters.

When asked what they believe should be done now concerning the judicial reform, 22% of respondents said the legislation should be advanced unilaterally (including 2% of opposition voters and 43% of coalition voters), 29% said the legislation should only be advanced after talks (including 24% of opposition voters and 38% of coalition voters), and 36% said the legislation should be halted immediately (including 67% of opposition voters and 5% of coalition voters).

National Unity party continues to lead polls

The Maariv poll additionally found that if elections were held today, the National Unity party would earn 30 seats, while the Likud would earn 28 seats, and Yesh Atid would earn 16 seats.

Meanwhile, Shas would earn nine seats, United Torah Judaism would earn seven seats, Ra'am would earn six seats, Otzma Yehudit, Meretz, the Religious Zionist party, and Yisrael Beytenu would earn five seats each, and Hadash-Ta'al would earn four seats.

The poll found that the current opposition, excluding Hadash-Ta'al, would earn 62 seats, while the current coalition would earn 54 seats, the same as a poll conducted last week by Maariv. Labor and Balad would not pass the electoral threshold.

In the internet survey, conducted on July 25-26, 504 participants took part, constituting a representative sample of the adult population in the State of Israel from the age of 18 and older, both Jews and Arabs. The maximum sampling error is 4.3%.