Former IDF chief of staff Gadi Eisenkot’s political party has continued to strengthen, increasing by three seats this week, according to a Maariv election poll published Friday.
Despite the stagnation in hostage-ceasefire negotiations and the public disagreements between the political echelon and the security establishment on the issue of occupying the Gaza Strip, the coalition has managed to prevent further loss of mandates, remaining with 49 while the opposition holds 61. The Arab parties received 10 mandates, unchanged from last week.
Over the past three weeks, Eisenkot’s party has nearly doubled, going from six to 11 mandates, becoming the third-largest party.
However, because most of the votes Eisenkot received were not at the expense of the coalition, there was no change in the overall balance of blocs.
When voters were asked who they would vote for in the next election if Naftali Bennett and Eisenkot each led their own parties, the results were: Likud at 23 seats (down from 25); Bennett at 21 (down from 23); Eisenkot’s party 11 up from eight, The Democrats and Shas remained unchanged at 10 and nine; Yisrael Beytenu eight down from nine, United Torah Judaism at seven down from eight; Yesh Atid kept seven mandates; Otzma Yehudit and Ra’am each lost a seat, getting six, and five; Hadash-Ta’al gained a seat to five from four; Blue and White remained unchanged at four; and the Religious Zionist Party received four seats, when last week the party didn’t pass the electoral threshold.
The poll also showed that 57% of Israelis believed that Israel should pursue a comprehensive deal to release the hostages in exchange for ending the war and withdrawing from the Gaza Strip. Conversely, 30% believed Israel should continue applying military pressure and occupy the Gaza Strip, even at the cost of harming the hostages, while 13% were unsure.
Additionally, in the debate over whether to continue the fighting in Gaza, nearly half of Israelis sided with IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Eyal Zamir was in favor of continuing the fight, compared to 32% who stood with Netanyahu’s plan to occupy the enclave, and 22% who were unsure.
Responsibility for failure to secure hostage-ceasefire deal
Most Israelis reported believing Hamas was responsible for the failure of negotiations to secure a deal for the hostages' return, either exclusively (44%) or mainly (22%). Some 15% stated the blame was Israel’s, while 13% said both sides were equally responsible, and 6% were unsure.
The poll was led by Dr. Menachem Lazar, conducted between August 6 and 7, and has a maximum sampling error of 4.4%. There were a total of 504 respondents, who constitute a representative sample of the adult population in Israel, aged 18 and above.