Poll: Majority of Israelis support deal ending Gaza war for release of all hostages
Survey also finds majority of public does not believe Netanyahu’s claims of innocence in his corruption trial and thinks government is avoiding Oct.7 inquiry for political reasons
A new poll published by Channel 12 news on Friday indicated that the majority of Israelis would support ending the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza in exchange for the release of all the hostages being held by Hamas as Israeli and US officials expressed optimism this week that an agreement was close to being signed.
The deal currently on the table reportedly does not involve the release of all the hostages in exchange for a permanent ceasefire, but 72% of respondents in the poll said they would support such an agreement while 15% said they opposed such a deal and the remaining 13% said they did not know.
Prime Minister Netanyahu has until now insisted that Israel would not agree to the key Hamas demand end the war in Gaza as part of the deal.
Among Netanyahu’s constituents, a majority (56%) also said they would support such a deal while 24% opposed it and 20% said they didn’t know.
A Wall Street Journal report on Thursday said the deal that was discussed this week would see some 30 hostages released in exchange for a 60-day ceasefire and Israel releasing a yet undetermined number of Palestinian prisoners from its prisons.
It is believed that 96 of the 251 hostages abducted by Hamas on October 7 last year during its attack on Israel, in which terrorists murdered some 1,200 people, remain in Gaza, including the bodies of at least 34 confirmed dead by the Israel Defense Forces.
Hamas released 105 civilians during a weeklong truce in late November, and four hostages were released before that. Eight hostages have been rescued by troops alive, and the bodies of 38 hostages have also been recovered, including three mistakenly killed by the military as they tried to escape their captors.
Netanyahu corruption trial
Meanwhile, Netanyahu began testifying in his corruption trial this week after being granted a short postponement, arguing he did not have time to prepare amid the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza and a conflict with Hezbollah which largely ended last month with a ceasefire agreement.
The prime minister asked for another delay last week, citing the ongoing war in Gaza and the collapse of Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Syria, but the court denied it, agreeing instead to permit recesses to allow Netanyahu turn his attention to important issues when necessary.
As Netanyahu took the stand this week to begin his testimony, the respondents were asked how they thought the rest of the trial should proceed.
Thirty-six percent said they believed Netanyahu should sign a plea deal that would involve him leaving politics. 21% said the trial should continue and end with a verdict while 20% of respondents said the whole trial should be canceled. Nine percent said Netanyahu should sign a plea deal but still be allowed to remain in politics. A further 14% had no opinion.
Asked whether they thought the court should have allowed Netanyahu to postpone his testimony again, respondents were almost evenly split with 42% saying the court was right not to delay his testimony again and 41% saying it should have allowed it. The remaining 17% said they didn’t know.
Netanyahu’s trial revolves around three corruption cases. In Case 100, he is charged with fraud and breach of trust surrounding allegations that he and his wife Sara received expensive gifts illicitly from Hollywood media mogul Arnon Milchan worth some NIS 700,000 and that Netanyahu violated conflict of interest laws when he provided Milchan with assistance in renewing his long-term US residency visa and sought to help him with tax issues.
In Case 2000, the prime minister is accused of fraud and breach of trust over his alleged attempt to reach a quid pro quo agreement with the publisher of the Yedioth Aharaonot newspaper Arnon (Noni) Mozes, whereby Yedioth would give the prime minister more positive media coverage in exchange for legislation weakening its key rival, the Israel Hayom free sheet.
Case 4000, also known as the Bezeq-Walla case, is the most serious the prime minister faces, in which he is accused of authorizing regulatory decisions that financially benefited Bezeq telecommunications giant shareholder Shaul Elovitch by hundreds of millions of shekels. In return, Netanyahu allegedly received favorable media coverage from the Walla news site, which Elovitch also owned.
Netanyahu has claimed that he didn’t know about the gifts he and Sara allegedly received from Milchan and that he did not have any unseemly relationship with Milchan or Elovitch, nor was he aware that Sara did.
More than half of respondents (56%) said they did not believe Netanyahu’s denials while 27% said they did believe him and 17% said they didn’t know.
Netanyahu’s constituents were far more trusting of the prime minister with more than half (53%) saying they believed him. Those who didn’t believe him were in the minority (22%) and a quarter said they didn’t know.
Finally, the respondents were asked about the government’s refusal to convene an official investigative panel to probe the failures that led to Hamas’s October 7 attack. Netanyahu and various ministers have claimed that convening such a panel was inappropriate during wartime and that it would be fitting to wait until the war ended, but 60% of respondents said the government’s motivations were purely political while only 25% believed there were other legitimate reasons for the decision.
The remaining 15% said they didn’t know.
The poll did not provide details on methodology or margin of error.
Lazar Berman and Jacob Magid contributed to this report.
