Remember the impact of the 9/11/2021 attacks on the approval ratings of the Administration in 2001?
Source: Gallup
Yeah, that was the jump from 51% to 90%. So what about Prime Minister Netanyahu of Israel, which, if you’ve been exploring holes in the ground in the backyard and hadn’t heard, was viciously attacked recently by opponent and terrorist organization Hamas? Is Israel a mini-USA?
Apparently not.
A poll shows public support for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his allies collapsing in the wake of Hamas’s deadly assault on southern Israel, with voters shifting to Benny Gantz’s National Unity party in the wake of his decision to join the government and form a wartime cabinet.
The survey, published by Maariv, gives the centrist National Unity 41 seats, up from the 12 it currently holds. Likud meanwhile drops to just 19 seats, well below the 32 it currently has. The poll gives hardline parties Otzma Yehudit and Religious Zionism five and four seats respectively. The two garnered 14 seats together in the last election. Ultra-Orthodox parties are also seen losing a modicum of support.
The results show how much the Hamas massacre, which saw the terror group rampage through southern Israel, killing at least 1,300 and taking some 150 hostages, has punctured people’s faith in the country’s leadership and their claims of being the only ones who could secure the country. Leaders often receive a boost in support thanks to the rally around the flag effect, but the enormity of the slaughter and the depth of the intelligence and security failure have instead led to an implosion for Netanyahu and Co. [The Times of Israel]
Because of Netanyahu’s desperation to remain in power, partially due to criminal proceedings against him, he’s been willing to sign up right wing extremist parties by making promises, such as excusing certain religious groups from mandatory military service. This has led to reports of resentment among the Israelielectorate.
I expect we’ll be hearing reports of change in the government and overall society over the next few years. Netanyahu will, I’m guessing, retire from politics, possibly after one more abortive run for office, and then he’ll be allocating his time to his legal affairs.
And Israeli society, which had been barreling right, will ask itself if a more centrist approach to governance is wiser.
