Poll shows slight drop in support for Netanyahu after Gallant firing; 55% say DM shouldn’t have been sacked

A poll indicates a slight drop in support for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his coalition a day after his controversial firing of Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.

It also shows most respondents are opposed to the defense minister’s dismissal.

Netanyahu’s Likud would win 25 seats if elections were held today, the Channel 12 poll finds, down one mandate from the channel’s poll last week.

Benny Gantz’s National Unity would get 20 seats, while Yair Lapid’s Yesh Atid would get 15.

Avigdor Liberman’s Yisrael Beytenu would get 13 and The Democrats — the unified left-wing Labor and Meretz under Yair Golan — would win 11.

The ultra-Orthodox Shas would win 10, United Torah Judaism gets eight seats in the poll, as did far-right Itamar Ben Gvir’s Otzma Yehudit, while the two Arab-majority parties Hadash-Ta’al and Ra’am each won five.

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich’s far-right Religious Zionism and newly appointed Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar’s New Hope both fail to cross the election threshold, as does the Arab Balad party.

The poll gives the current coalition 51 seats in the 120-seat Knesset, down from their current 68.

The poll also finds that 55% of Israelis are opposed to the firing of Gallant, with 32% in favor. Thirteen percent had no opinion.

It also finds that 50% believe Gallant’s assertion that he was fired for opposing a law that would enshrine draft exemptions for the ultra-Orthodox, while 39% accept Netanyahu’s explanation that he was fired due to professional disagreements.

Finally, the poll finds that 67% of Israelis were satisfied with Donald Trump winning the US elections, while 18% were unhappy and 15% did not know.