An overwhelming majority of Israelis support Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s negotiation positions regarding a hostage deal with Hamas and oppose anti-government demonstrations in Tel Aviv demanding an immediate deal at any price, according to a new, in-depth JNS poll.
Netanyahu’s positions are supported not only by coalition-party voters, but also by approximately one third of voters for opposition parties, the survey found.
Direct Polls conducted the survey on Monday evening both before and after the prime minister’s press conference, finding a significant disparity in Netanyahu’s favor in the latter sampling.
At the press conference, Netanyahu set out the rationale for his refusal to remove Israel Defense Forces troops from the border zone between Gaza and Egypt, known as the Philadelphi Corridor, its code name on IDF maps.
JNS asked respondents: “Do you believe Israel should support or oppose a deal that conditions the receipt of between 18-30 hostages on an IDF withdrawal from the Philadelphi Corridor for six weeks, during which Hamas will be able to rearm and smuggle hostages out of Gaza?”
Thirty-five percent of respondents overall said that Israel should agree to such a deal, while 62% opposed it. Three percent had no opinion.
Among coalition party voters, 7% supported withdrawing from the Gaza-Egypt border, compared to 62% of opposition voters. Ninety-two percent of coalition voters opposed the withdrawal and 33% of opposition voters opposed withdrawing from the Philadelphi corridor.
Notably, 65% of opposition voters polled before the press conference supported withdrawing from the Philadelphi Corridor, and only 57% of opposition voters polled afterwards supported that position. Support for the withdrawal among coalition voters decreased from 8% to 5%.
The disparity between the way opposition party voters polled before and after Netanyahu’s press conference viewed mass anti-government protests on behalf of a hostage deal was even more apparent. Fifty-two percent of opposition party voters surveyed before Netanyahu’s press conference thought that the demonstrations advanced the goal of getting the hostages home. Thirty-two percent said that the demonstrations had no impact on whether or not a deal would be achieved that would get the hostages home. Sixteen percent said that the demonstrations decreased the chance of getting a hostage deal with Hamas.
After Netanyahu’s press conference, only 42% of opposition voters believed that the demonstrations increased the prospects for getting the hostages home. Thirty-nine percent said that the demonstrations didn’t affect their plight, and 19% said that the demonstrations decreased prospects for bringing them home.
