Netanyahu support shrivels as 85% say Israel needs a new leader following war with Hamas

An overwhelming majority of Israelis, 85%, said they want a new prime minister when the Israel-Hamas war ends as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s support declines, a poll found.

The Israel Democracy Institute released its December Israeli Voice Index on Tuesday, capturing the public’s opinion on several key matters related to the handling of Israel’s war with its neighboring adversaries.

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The figure who received the most support to be Israel’s next leader is former Gen. Benny Gantz, with 23% support compared to Netanyahu’s 15%. Only a quarter of Israelis think Netanyahu will be able to keep his political coalition together after the war.

The poll revealed that the Israeli public does not think Netanyahu has done a good job accomplishing the missions of toppling Hamas or bringing home the hostages. Just 26.8% of respondents said Israel has toppled Hamas to a fairly or very large extent, while only 14% said Israel has brought hostages home to a similar extent.

The Israelis were asked about the ideal way to bring home the hostages held by Hamas and other terrorist groups, with 56.1% saying Israel should continue “intensive fighting” with hopes that the Israel Defense Forces can free the hostages, and 24% saying Israel should release all Palestinian prisoners in exchange for the hostages “even if this means agreeing to Hamas’s demand to halt the fighting.”

Jewish Israelis overwhelmingly support continuing the fight, while Arab Israelis support prisoner swaps and a possible ceasefire. On every question, similar discrepancies are found between Jewish and Arab Israelis, indicating the conflicting interests each group has for the war.

Most respondents also said Israel should not agree to the United States’s “demand” to put an “emphasis on reducing the heavy bombing of densely populated areas” of Gaza, with 66% answering this way compared to 22.7% who felt Israel should agree to a new phase of war.

With tensions and conflict between Israel and Hezbollah escalating at Israel’s northern border with Lebanon, 50.9% of Israelis want the nation to deal a “heavy blow now, even at the cost of opening up another front in the north.” Slightly more than 34% of Israelis think the country should make every effort to avoid this.

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Most Israelis are pessimistic about Israel’s security situation, with 52.8% of those surveyed sharing that pessimism compared to 40.5% who are optimistic. Nearly half of Israelis are pessimistic about the overall state of “democratic governance in Israel in the foreseeable future,” and 42.7% are optimistic.

The poll was conducted from Dec. 25 to Dec. 28, surveying 605 Jewish Israelis and 151 Arab Israelis.