Poll: Most Israelis say PM should stop working with close aide Urich over Qatargate

Channel 12 survey also finds just 35% say government’s politically appointed October 7 probe will arrive at the truth; opposition leads in election poll, but doesn’t reach majority

A poll conducted Thursday showed just over half of Israelis believe Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu should stop working with close aide Jonathan Urich, who is suspected of having worked for the Qatari government while employed in the Prime Minister’s Office.

The poll by Channel 12 also demonstrates low public trust in the Netanyahu coalition’s efforts to form a politically appointed probe into the October 7, 2023, attack. And it shows the pro-Netanyahu bloc of parties trailing the opposition ahead of next year’s elections, with neither side reaching a majority.

The survey came in the wake of a string of explosive allegations about the scandal known as Qatargate, in which Urich and former Netanyahu spokesperson Eli Feldstein face allegations of being paid to promote messaging from Doha while working for Netanyahu.

Asked whether, in light of the developments in the affair, Netanyahu should stop employing Urich, 52 percent said he should.

Only 12% answered that he should not — saying, in other words, that he should keep working with Urich. 36% said they don’t know.

Respondents were also asked about the politically appointed commission of inquiry that Netanyahu’s government hopes to establish. The Knesset narrowly advanced a bill to establish the commission earlier this week.

According to the plan for that commission, its members are to be appointed either by a Knesset supermajority or in equal measure by the coalition and opposition. The opposition, however, has pledged to boycott that process, demanding the formation instead of a state commission of inquiry, Israel’s highest investigative authority.

Even if the government commission were appointed by both sides of the aisle, the Channel 12 poll found that 55% of respondents said they do not believe it would arrive at the truth, versus 35% who said it would. The remainder said they do not know.

An activist speaks to a police officer at a protest calling for a state commission of inquiry into the failures surrounding the October 7, 2023, attack, outside the home of Education Minister Yoav Kisch in Hod Hasharon, December 24, 2025. (Tal Gal/Flash90)

Looking ahead to next year’s election, which must be held by October, the survey found that Netanyahu’s Likud party would win the most seats, at 25, followed by former prime minister Naftali Bennett’s eponymous party at 22.

But the poll found that neither Netanyahu’s allies nor the opposition would reach a 61-seat majority in the 120-seat Knesset. The pro-Netanyahu camp would win just 52 seats, while his opponents, excluding Arab parties, would win 58.

When voters for the opposition bloc were asked what they would prefer to happen in such a scenario, 51% opted for the bloc to form a minority government, while relying on one of the Arab parties to abstain from the vote.

Meanwhile, 25% said the bloc should partner with Likud, and 14% said they would prefer a second round of elections. Another 10% said they don’t know.

Asked which of the two top candidates is a better fit to be prime minister, 38% of respondents chose Netanyahu, 37% chose Bennett, 20% said neither, and 5% said they don’t know.

Netanyahu fared better against Opposition Leader Yair Lapid, chair of the centrist Yesh Atid party. In that matchup, Netanyahu won the support of 41% of respondents, while Lapid garnered 26%; 28% said neither, and 5% said they don’t know.

Former prime minister Naftali Bennett arrives for a court hearing in his defamation lawsuit against journalist Boaz Golan at the Magistrate’s Court in Rishon Lezion, December 2, 2025. (Jonathan Shaul/Flash90)

Among the pro-Netanyahu parties, in addition to Likud’s 25 seats, the two ultra-Orthodox parties Shas and United Torah Judaism would win 8 and 7 seats, respectively. The far-right Otzma Yehudit and Religious Zionism parties, meanwhile, would win 8 and 4, respectively.

Among the premier’s opponents, in addition to the 22 seats for Bennett, Yair Golan’s left-wing Democrats party would win 11, while Yesh Atid and Avigdor Liberman’s hawkish Yisrael Beytenu party would each win 9. Ex-IDF chief Gadi Eisenkot’s Yashar! party, meanwhile, would win 7 seats.

The Arab parties, Ra’am and Hadash Ta’al, would each win 5 seats. A third Arab party, Balad, did not cross the electoral threshold.

Benny Gantz’s Blue and White and Yoaz Hendel’s The Reservists, both centrist parties, also failed to cross the threshold in the poll.

The poll was taken on December 25, with 500 respondents and a 4.4% margin of error, according to Channel 12.