Majority of Israelis want elections, plurality backs ground operation in Lebanon against Hezbollah – poll

Read this article in:

More than half of Israeli citizens are in favor of holding early elections. About 50% of the respondents want the elections to be held immediately, according to a new poll published on Thursday by Israel's KAN news outlet.

The poll indicated that if elections were held today, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ruling Likud party would receive 22 mandates, one mandate more than in the previous poll. Netanyahu’s main rival, War Cabinet Minister Benny Gantz, who heads the National Unity party, would once again emerge as the largest political party with 29 mandates. The Yesh Atid party, the leading opposition party, headed by former Prime Minister Yair Lapid, would receive 16 mandates compared to 15 in the previous poll.

The KAN poll also revealed that the secular right-wing Yisrael Beytenu party, led by Avigdor Liberman, would receive 10 mandates, one mandate less than in the previous poll. Compared to the previous poll, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich’s Religious Zionist party would lose one mandate and receive 5 seats in the Knesset.

National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir’s Otzma Yehudit party would receive the same amount of 9 mandates as the last poll, 9. The Arab Hadash-Ta’al party would receive 5 seats while the other Arab party, Ra’am, and the left-wing Meretz party would receive 4 mandates each.

The KAN poll also revealed that a plurality of Israelis support a major military ground operation against the Iranian terror proxy, Hezbollah, in Lebanon, in particular, right-wing Israelis who support Netanyahu’s coalition government.

The Hezbollah terror group began attacking northern Israel on Oct. 8, the day after the Hamas terrorist organization invaded southern Israel and massacred 1,200 Israelis while taking more than 250 people as hostages. Hezbollah forces in Lebanon have launched drone and missile attacks against Israel almost daily since then.

Israel Defense Forces has responded by targeting Hezbollah’s forces and military assets in Lebanon. The Lebanese terror group has lost at least 300 terrorist operatives, according to its published data, although Israel believes the true number is significantly higher.

In addition, Israel has eliminated at least 30 senior Hezbollah commanders, including the senior leader of its rocket and missile unit, Qassem Saqlawi, who was targeted by an Israeli drone in southern Lebanon on Monday.

A majority of Israelis support the ongoing war against Hamas and Hezbollah, however, a whopping 62% of the Israelis are reportedly dissatisfied with the slow progress of the war, according to an April poll conducted by the veteran pollster Dr. Menachem Lazar on behalf of the Maariv news outlet. Israelis are dissatisfied that Hamas and Hezbollah are still intact and continue threatening Israel on its southern and northern borders, the poll revealed.

Most of Hamas’ remaining forces are concentrated in Rafah in southern Gaza close to the Egyptian border. However, the Israeli government postponed a military operation due to the presence of over one million Gazan civilians and opposition from the White House.

U.S. President Joe Biden and his administration are reportedly satisfied with changes the IDF has made to its operational strategy in Rafah, according to a senior American official.

The IDF has successfully evacuated roughly 950.000 Gazans from the southern town over the past two weeks. Most civilians in Gaza have been evacuated to a "protected humanitarian zone." At the same time, the Israeli military shifted its original strategy and is now launching smaller and more pinpointed military operations against Hamas in Rafah.