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Why 70 Percent of Israelis Want Netanyahu to Resign

  

Category:  News & Politics

Via:  hallux  •  3 weeks ago  •  20 comments

By:   Yair Rosenberg - The Atlantic

Why 70 Percent of Israelis Want Netanyahu to Resign
The Israeli prime minister ignores the views of the majority of his people.

S E E D E D   C O N T E N T


Israelis want Benjamin Netanyahu to say sorry and go away. A   survey   released this week by the Israel Democracy Institute found that a staggering 87 percent of Israelis think the prime minister should take responsibility for the events of October 7, and 73 percent want him to resign either now or after the Gaza war. These figures might seem shocking to outsiders, but they are actually old news. Since October 7, the Israeli public has   consistently   told   pollsters   that it wants Netanyahu gone—a preference that has held through every twist and turn of the war and has, if anything, intensified over time.

The reason for this is simple: Netanyahu not only presided over the worst security failure in Israel’s history but has actively governed against the will of the country’s majority. He and his allies received just   48.4 percent   of the vote in late 2022. Still, the Israeli leader did not seek to unite a polarized population by pivoting to the center. Instead he cobbled together a   sectarian coalition   with unpopular extremist constituencies: far-right messianic settlers and the ultra-Orthodox. Because the votes of both of these groups are necessary for the government to remain in power, they have been able to extort Netanyahu for ever-expanding giveaways and political gains. The result: On core issue after issue, Netanyahu has been the prime minister for the 30 percent.

Take the cease-fire deal that is currently in limbo in Gaza.  Polls   consistently  show that some 70 percent of Israelis want the arrangement to continue until all of the hostages are free, even if that means releasing many convicted terrorists and ending the war with Hamas still at large. Likewise, a significant majority of Israelis  reject  any effort to resettle Gaza. But in his coalition, Netanyahu is beholden to the  radical minority  that wants not only to restart the war but also to ethnically cleanse Gaza in order to repopulate it with Jewish communities. And so the hostage deal teeters on the edge.

Or consider the  question of ultra-Orthodox enlistment  in the Israeli army. That army is not volunteer; it relies on a universal draft to fill its ranks. But since the country’s founding, the ultra-Orthodox Jewish community has been exempt from participation; its young men instead study in government-subsidized religious seminaries while their brethren defend the country. This arrangement was deeply unpopular, but for decades, Israelis grudgingly accepted it in exchange for ultra-Orthodox cooperation on more pressing political matters. But today, as Israel faces combat on multiple fronts, there is no more pressing matter than staffing the strapped armed forces. And given that the ultra-Orthodox community is now the fastest-growing demographic in Israel, its absence from the national defense is no longer tenable. Since October 7,  polls   show  that about 70 percent of Israelis—including a majority of those who voted for the ruling right-wing government—oppose the ultra-Orthodox exemptions. A similar number  opposes  state subsidies to this community and its religious institutions. None of these preferences has changed government policy.

Netanyahu’s disregard for majority opinion predates October 7 and may be his government’s original sin. In January 2023, his coalition announced its first major policy initiative: a sweeping overhaul of Israel’s judicial system that would dramatically disempower the country’s supreme court. This extraordinary reordering of Israeli democracy was not conceived through public debate and brokered consensus, but rather produced by a conservative think tank and rammed through the Parliament on a narrow party-line vote. Polls  found  that the plan was opposed by—say it with me—some two-thirds of the Israeli public. For a time, mass demonstrations against it  paralyzed  the country, in the largest sustained protest movement in Israeli history. Only the cataclysmic events of October 7  shelved  the overhaul—and now Netanyahu’s coalition is  bringing it back .

The prime minister’s determination to thwart the Israeli majority has also affected personnel decisions at the highest level. On November 5, 2024, Netanyahu fired his defense minister, Yoav Gallant. Polls previously   found   that Gallant was the most popular elected politician in Israel. But the former army general had   opposed   the judicial overhaul,   rejected   Jewish settlement in Gaza,   called   for the territory to be returned to non-Hamas Palestinian governance,   pushed   for an earlier cease-fire deal, and   repeatedly   pressed   to draft the ultra-Orthodox into the Israel Defense Forces. In other words, Gallant represented all of the consensus positions of Israeli society—and that’s why he had to go. On January 1, he   resigned   from Parliament entirely.

Read: The Israeli defense establishment revolts against Netanyahu

These are not cherry-picked, incidental issues. They are the fundamental fault lines in Israeli politics, because they will determine the country’s future. And on every single one, Netanyahu and his government are on the opposite side of the overwhelming majority of the Israeli public. Technically, that’s all within the rules of the game. The prime minister’s coalition may not have gotten a majority of the vote, but thanks to a   quirk   of the Israeli electoral system, it did get the majority of seats in Parliament, and unless it collapses, it can govern as it wishes until the next election, in 2026. But morally and practically, Netanyahu’s blatant disregard for the preferences of the public is a disaster for Israeli democracy, because it undermines faith in the system’s ability to deliver for its people.

Seen in this context, it’s no wonder that polls since before October 7 have   consistently shown   the current government losing the next election. The war has sublimated the rage seething beneath the surface to the needs of national security. But once Israelis stop fighting Hamas in Gaza, they will inevitably turn their sights on their own leadership.


Red Box Rules

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Hallux
Professor Principal
1  seeder  Hallux    3 weeks ago

No, being a critic of Netanyahu does not make one anti-semitic  ...

 
 
 
devangelical
Professor Principal
1.1  devangelical  replied to  Hallux @1    2 weeks ago

I know a few pompous assholes that would strongly argue that point.[]

 
 
 
Dismayed Patriot
Professor Quiet
1.1.1  Dismayed Patriot  replied to  devangelical @1.1    2 weeks ago
I know a few pompous assholes that would strongly argue that point

Right now, according to rightwing conservatives, if you wish peace and security for Palestinians, you're an antisemitic terrorist regardless of how much you also wish peace and security for Israel.

 
 
 
devangelical
Professor Principal
1.1.2  devangelical  replied to  Dismayed Patriot @1.1.1    2 weeks ago

bibi's on a mission to completely negate the significance of the holocaust in an effort to save his criminal ass ...

 
 
 
Trout Giggles
Professor Principal
1.1.3  Trout Giggles  replied to  devangelical @1.1.2    2 weeks ago

Especially with his genocidal mind

 
 
 
devangelical
Professor Principal
1.1.4  devangelical  replied to  Trout Giggles @1.1.3    2 weeks ago

meh, tyrants are 10x more likely to get their wings clipped in armed societies ...

 
 
 
Gsquared
Professor Principal
1.2  Gsquared  replied to  Hallux @1    2 weeks ago

My Israeli cousin that I have been in contact with, who serves in the Israel reserves, called Netanyahu's government weak and corrupt in the first email I received from him within days of the Hamas attack.  I believe him.  He reported for duty at army headquarters on the afternoon of October 7th.  Trust me, he is not anti-semitic.  

 
 
 
Buzz of the Orient
Professor Expert
1.3  Buzz of the Orient  replied to  Hallux @1    2 weeks ago
"No, being a critic of Netanyahu does not make one anti-semitic  ..."

I agree with that entirely.  I may be a strong supporter of the State of Israel, but for more than one reason I have no love for the ultra-Orthodox.  However, in my opinion I think it would be a mistake to give Hamas or any other terrorists a reason to think that kidnapping and holding hostages is a means to gain a benefit or to win a war. 

Now, would you mind explaining the meaning of the ruler as a RED BOX RULE?

 
 
 
Hallux
Professor Principal
1.3.1  seeder  Hallux  replied to  Buzz of the Orient @1.3    2 weeks ago
meaning of the ruler

Just a visual pun.

 
 
 
Buzz of the Orient
Professor Expert
1.3.2  Buzz of the Orient  replied to  Hallux @1.3.1    2 weeks ago

Well, maybe I'm losing it, but I don't get it.  Is it some kind of far-out very oblique reference to Netanyahu or Trump being a ruler, i.e. king or emperor?

 
 
 
Ozzwald
Professor Quiet
2  Ozzwald    3 weeks ago
Why 70 Percent of Israelis Want Netanyahu to Resign

Netanyahu is just an Israelian version of Trump.  A little bit smarter and with better hair.

 
 
 
Greg Jones
Professor Participates
3  Greg Jones    2 weeks ago

So who should be in charge instead of Netanyahu, and what should they do about Gaza and Hamas?

 
 
 
Hallux
Professor Principal
3.1  seeder  Hallux  replied to  Greg Jones @3    2 weeks ago

Why Trump of course.

 
 
 
Gsquared
Professor Principal
3.2  Gsquared  replied to  Greg Jones @3    2 weeks ago
So who should be in charge instead of Netanyahu

Whoever is selected through Israel's democratic process.

what should they do about Gaza and Hamas?

Ultimately, that is up to the Israelis to decide.  All the U.S. can do is provide Israel advice and support.

 
 
 
Trout Giggles
Professor Principal
4  Trout Giggles    2 weeks ago
given that the ultra-Orthodox community is now the fastest-growing demographic in Israel, its absence from the national defense is no longer tenable. 

They have lots of babies

 
 
 
Gsquared
Professor Principal
4.1  Gsquared  replied to  Trout Giggles @4    2 weeks ago

The eldest daughter of a friend of mine from school moved to Israel several years ago, married a guy in an ultra-Orthodox cult, and has 10.

 
 
 
Trout Giggles
Professor Principal
4.1.1  Trout Giggles  replied to  Gsquared @4.1    2 weeks ago

wow

they don't believe in birth control do they?

 
 
 
Gsquared
Professor Principal
4.1.2  Gsquared  replied to  Trout Giggles @4.1.1    2 weeks ago

I guess not.

 
 
 
Krishna
Professor Expert
4.2  Krishna  replied to  Trout Giggles @4    2 weeks ago
They have lots of babies

That seems to be true with the very religious in most religions. 

(In fact, of Israel's Muslim citizens..they also have a very high birth rate!)

 
 
 
Krishna
Professor Expert
5  Krishna    2 weeks ago

They have lots of babies That seems to be true with the very religious in most religions. (In fact, of Israel's Muslim citizens..they also have a very high birth rate!)

And then there's the position of Catholic Church re: birth control . . .

 
 

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