Netanyahu’s popularity on the rise in blow to Israeli rivals

TEL AVIV – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is starting to regain his popularity after struggling politically for more than a year, out-polling main rival Benny Gantz for the first time since

the war against Hamas

started in October.

A Channel 12 survey conducted on May 29 of 500 voters representing a cross-section of Israeli society asked: Who is better suited to serve as prime minister?

It found 36 per cent chose Mr Netanyahu and 30 per cent Mr Gantz. The margin of error was 4.4 per cent.

In April, Mr Gantz was ahead 35 per cent to 29 per cent.

In the new poll, Mr Netanyahu was also ahead of opposition leader Yair Lapid by 37 per cent to 30 per cent and edged above former prime minister Naftali Bennett 34 per cent to 32 per cent.

The findings represent a setback to Israeli opposition leaders who have been trying to figure out a way to drive Mr Netanyahu from office as the conflict in Gaza drags on.

No election is due till 2026, and there is little evidence that Mr Netanyahu’s party members or coalition partners are ready to desert him.

The survey comes two weeks after Mr Gantz

gave Mr Netanyahu an ultimatum

: present a plan for postwar Gaza, or he will leave the Cabinet on June 8.

Mr Netanyahu brought Mr Gantz in to join a three-man leadership team to help manage the war against Hamas, alongside Defence Minister Yoav Gallant.

Mr Gantz may have made the move to stem his already falling poll numbers, though some analysts say it mainly served to drive voters back to Mr Netanyahu, concerned that the middle of a war is no time to engage in political manoeuvring.

Israelis continue to support the goal of defeating Hamas and seem willing to grant Mr Netanyahu more time to do so.

Mr Gadi Eisenkot, a former military chief of staff and a member of Mr Gantz’s party who is in the inner Cabinet, spoke harshly of Mr Netanyahu on May 29,

accusing him of failing Israel

and urging new elections before the end of 2024. The speech made clear how serious his party’s plan is to leave the Cabinet.

The various coalition options favour the opposition forming a government if elections were held now.

The survey found Mr Netanyahu’s right-wing Likud party making gains on Mr Gantz’s centrist National Unity party. If elections were held today, Likud would win 21 seats and National Unity 25 out of Parliament’s 120. That four-point gap compares with a December poll that had Mr Gantz’s party at 37 and Mr Netanyahu’s at 18.

The Gaza war started when Hamas militants invaded Israel on Oct 7, killing 1,200 people and abducting 250.

Israel’s counterattack has left 36,000 dead, according to the authorities in the Hamas-run territory who do not distinguish between civilians and fighters. Hamas is viewed as a terrorist group by the US and European Union. BLOOMBERG