Haaretz Poll: Half of Israelis Do Not Want Netanyahu as Prime Minister

On the day of the internal elections of the ruling Likud party to select its list of candidates for the upcoming elections in Israel, a poll by the critical newspaper Haaretz shows that "about half of Israelis do not wish for his continued premiership." The poll, published on Tuesday, February 5, indicates that 47% of respondents answered 'no' to the question of whether they want Netanyahu as Prime Minister, while 35% answered 'yes' and 18% are still undecided. The Haaretz poll was conducted to assess the impact of Benny Gantz's presence in the electoral arena; Gantz, the former head of the Israeli army, officially entered the political campaign last week as Netanyahu's main rival. According to the poll, the Israel Resilience Party formed by Gantz is destabilizing all other parties. However, the 'Resilience' party has had the least negative impact on far-right parties such as 'Israel Our Home' and 'Jewish Home.' Despite the negative sentiment from about half of the voters towards Netanyahu's continued premiership, when asked who would manage foreign policy better, 60% considered Netanyahu more qualified, while only 20% deemed Gantz superior. In another question regarding economic management, 54% believed Netanyahu was better, and only 20% favored Gantz. However, regarding security management, the two politicians were nearly equal, with 39% choosing Gantz and 40% choosing Netanyahu. There is a public belief in Israel that most voters prioritize security over any other issue when casting their votes. Netanyahu, with nearly four decades of leadership in politics and governance, has not had a rival in ensuring the security of the people and the country, but this situation seems to have changed with Gantz's entry, who has a military background. According to Haaretz, although Gantz's presence has blossomed in the early days of his political announcement, Netanyahu hopes this bloom will wither prematurely. Concurrently, on February 5, internal elections of Likud are underway to determine the party's candidates for the elections on April 8, 2019. This voting does not only include the party leader, Mr. Netanyahu, but all other Likud politicians, including his government ministers, are also up for vote. Netanyahu has made significant efforts to ensure that his supported candidates reach top positions on this list. Israeli media reports that Netanyahu has asked Likud members not to vote for Gideon Sa'ar, a leading politician in the party and Sa'ar's supported candidates. According to these reports, Netanyahu strongly opposes Sa'ar becoming the top politician on the designated list. Yair Netanyahu, the Prime Minister's eldest son, accused Gideon Sa'ar and Reuven Rivlin, the President of Israel, of conspiring to remove Benjamin Netanyahu from the premiership during the internal Likud elections. Netanyahu's supporters had previously expressed concerns that the president might use his authority after the elections to mandate another Likud politician to form a government instead of Netanyahu. In the final days before the dissolution of the parliamentary term, the Likud party passed a last-minute law that seemingly obligates the president to mandate the leader of a party to form a government. Despite the relative weakening of Benjamin Netanyahu's position in public opinion and the potential issuance of an indictment against him on corruption charges in the coming days, all polls indicate that Likud will maintain its superiority. Meanwhile, Donald Trump, the President of the United States, shared an election image featuring Netanyahu and himself on the same day as the internal Likud elections. In this photo, which Netanyahu's supporters have installed on major highways in Israel, the caption reads 'Leadership from a different stream' to compare his standing with other internal rivals in the minds of voters. The Ynet website reported on February 5 that Netanyahu plans multiple political trips around the world in the coming days to be alongside important international leaders and demonstrate his qualifications for continuing as Prime Minister to Israeli voters. According to this report, Netanyahu's itinerary includes trips to India and Russia, as well as participation in an 'anti-Iranian' conference in Warsaw. A historic trip to Morocco will also take place shortly before the elections. The Israeli Prime Minister's office has confirmed Netanyahu's trip to Morocco.