Poll: 60% say Netanyahu should not fire Gallant

Sixty percent of respondents to a Channel 12 poll say Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu should not fire Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, a day after Gallant accused Netanyahu of ducking vital decisions on post-war Gaza and demanded that the prime minister rule out post-war Israeli military and civil control of the Strip.

The poll found only 23% of respondents believe Gallant should be fired. It said 47% of Netanyahu bloc voters also don’t think Gallant should be fired, compared to 38% who do.

Asked whether Gallant should resign, 47% said no and 39% said yes.

Asked what the Gaza “day after” solution should be, 40% said Israeli military rule (as advocated by far-right members of the coalition), and 40% said Palestinian entities backed by international actors (as Gallant advocated). The survey question offered no other options.

Netanyahu fired Gallant in March 2023, after the defense minister warned about the danger to national security of rifts that he said were extending into the military over the government’s judicial overhaul plans. Amid public protests, Gallant was reinstated two weeks later.

As for respondents’ voting preferences were elections held today, the poll showed a fall in support for Benny Gantz’s National Unity party, still far ahead on 29 seats, but two down on the last survey in late April and eight down on the party’s height three months ago.

Nonetheless, the so-called anti-Netanyahu bloc led by Gantz would win 65 of the Knesset’s 120 seats, while the pro-Netanyhu bloc would muster 50.

The party’s fared as follows (2022 election results in parentheses): National Unity 29 seats (12); Likud 19 (32); Yesh Atid 16 (24); Yisrael Beytenu 11 (6); Shas 10 (11); Otzma Yehudit 9 (14, in an alliance together with Religious Zionism); United Torah Judaism 8 (7); Hadash-Ta’al 5 (5); Ra’am 5 (5); Religious Zionism 4; Meretz 4 (0).

Labor, Balad and New Right parties all scored below the Knesset threshold.

Were Gallant to set up his own party, it would win six seats, the poll found — taking 4 seats from National Unity, one from Yesh Atid and one from Yisrael Beytenu.

The survey, by Midgam, was conducted today by phone and internet among a 502-strong representative sample, with a 4.4% margin of error.