Poll finds 72% of Israelis think Netanyahu should quit over Oct. 7 failures
44% believe PM must resign immediately, 28% say after war; 64% in favor of hostage-ceasefire deal; respondents say premier is Israeli with greatest responsibility for Hamas onslaught
Seventy-two percent of Israelis think Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu needs to resign over the failures of October 7, according to a Channel 12 poll published Friday.
Of those, 44% believe Netanyahu needs to quit immediately, while another 28% believe he should resign when the war ends.
The poll also found that 50% of those who define themselves as supporters of the government believe Netanyahu must leave office before the end of his term. Forty-two percent of supporters said he should see out his term.
The poll also found that the public views Netanyahu as the Israeli most responsible for the October 7 catastrophe, when some 3,000 Hamas-led terrorists stormed into Israel, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages.
Thirty-nine percent said Netanyahu was most responsible, 18% said former military intelligence chief Aharon Haliva was mostly to blame, 10% singled out IDF chief of staff Herzi Halevi, 7% held Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar responsible, and only 4% laid the blame with Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.
Among them, Netanyahu is the only one yet to admit culpability for the disaster.
The poll also found broad public support for a deal with Hamas that would see a ceasefire and the return of the hostages, with 64% in favor, and 15% against. A further 21% said they don’t know.
Israel recently went through an unprecedented bout of five elections within four years as repeated votes failed to produce a stable majority government.
There has been increasing talk of fresh elections amid cabinet members griping over the management of the war in Gaza and coalition divides on the drafting of the ultra-Orthodox community into the army, both issues that could threaten to collapse the government.
In addition, there is growing dissatisfaction among many in the public at efforts to reach a hostage-ceasefire deal.
The network said 502 people took part in the online poll, which was conducted by the Midgam research firm. The margin of error was 4.4%.
