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Netanyahu faces overwhelming pressure domestically to continue the conflict despite Donald Trump’s efforts to end it
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A new poll says 92 per cent of the Israeli public believe Iran has emerged the winner in the conflict with the US and Israel.
According to the survey conducted by the Hebrew University and Agam Labs, the vast majority of the Israel population have a negative view of Donald Trump’s deal agreed this week between the US and Iran, which includes a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon.
The poll suggests that 82.9 per cent of Israelis believe the military campaign against Iran has weakened Israel’s long-term security and 86 per cent have a negative attitude towards the outcome of the conflict.
Attitudes towards prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu were also overwhelmingly negative with 72.5 per cent saying that they did not believe the leader when he says that Israel has achieved significant gains and removed an existential threat.
A massive 87.8 per cent believe that the country has failed to achieve its military objectives or has fulfilled only some of them.
The poll also found that 48.2 per cent of Israelis support renewed major military action against Hezbollah, even at the risk of a clash with Trump.
The sample included 3,644 Israeli citizens aged 17 or over and was designed and weighted to reflect the country’s population by gender, age, religion, region, votes in elections, religiosity, ethnic background among Jewish respondents and religious affiliation among Arab respondents.
Jewish respondents comprise 83 per cent of the sample and Arab respondents 17 per cent after weighting.
It comes as recent US intelligence reports suggest Netanyahu could undermine a peace deal between the US and Iran due to political pressure in his own country.
Far right national security minister Itamar Ben Gvir said in response to the news of a deal: “For every tear of an Israeli mother, a thousand Lebanese mothers must weep. All of Lebanon must burn!”
“In the Middle East, you don’t win with measured responses and restraint – you need to go berserk. To obliterate.”
Israeli has continued to strike Lebanon, leading Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to reportedly close the Strait of Hormuz over ceasefire violations after the memorandum of understanding signed by the US and Iran included a cessation of hostilities in Lebanon.
A recent poll by the Pew Research Centre found 60 per cent of Americans have an unfavourable view of Israel following Netanyahu’s actions in Gaza and the war with Iran and Lebanon.
Tensions have increased between the US and Israel with reports over the last few weeks suggesting a rift between Netanyahu and Donald Trump despite the American leader insisting that the relationship remained “good”.
“Bibi Netanyahu worked well with me, but he will tell you, we’re the ones with the guns, we’re the ones with the whole deal, we’re the ones with the B-2 bombers, etc,” he told Axios on Friday. “If it weren’t for Donald Trump, Israel would have been eviscerated.”
The latest survey arrives at a challenging moment for the Israeli prime minister whose cross-examination for a corruption trial ended after over a year of questioning this week, drawing one of the most politically consequential trials in Israeli history into the final stretch.
“From 66 per cent optimism and a peak record of support in Netanyahu measured at the beginning of the current war (based on our first poll on 2 March ), in just three months the Israeli public has turned extremely pessimistic, worried, disillusioned after the war’s outcomes – in numbers we haven’t seen since shortly after October 7 2023,” Dr Nimrod Nir of Agam Labs told The Independent.
“Netanyahu’s approval is in record low, and the Israeli Public which initially showed great support for the war, is united in his despair, and frustration.
“This war has impaired Netanyahu’s chances of winning the upcoming elections, and put the Israeli public in great distress – with many starting to realize that unlike what they’ve been promised, the threats Israel is facing can not be beaten by force alone. And it’s enemies are far from defeat.
“From branding the war as a campaign of “total victory”, over 90 per cent of Israelis feel defeated in this current round.”
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