The Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahuhas returned to the top of the polls for the first time since May of last year, when he was elected as preferred candidate to lead the country In a poll broadcast last night by the main Israeli news network, the Channel 12.
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Netanyahu was also the favorite in comparisons with other opposition figures, such as Yair Lapid or Avigdor Liberman.
The popularity of Gantz, who throughout his career has been Chief of the Army Staff and Minister of Defense, skyrocketed following the Hamas attacks of October 7 and the beginning of the war in Gaza, and reached garnering 45 percent of support (compared to Netanyahu’s 27 percent) in a survey in December.
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Benny Gantz.
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The comeback of the Israeli president coincides with Gantz’s ultimatum on May 19, when the minister threatened to abandon the emergency government – which he joined from the opposition after the Hamas attacks – if by June 8 there is no presented a postwar plan for Gaza.
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His departure would not be enough to end the coalition government, but it would underpin Netanyahu’s dependence on his far-right partners, who defend the recolonization of the Gaza Strip and the establishment of new settlements in the occupied West Bank.
Parliament of Israel.
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This Wednesday, the head of the Israeli opposition, the centrist Yair Lapid, met with the leaders of the two main right-wing opposition parties, Avigdor Liberman and Gideon Saar, to coordinate a common strategy and send a message of unity to the Likud parliamentarians.
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According to the medium, If the opposition manages to convince five legislators to vote against Netanyahu in a motion of no confidence, the Government would fall and early elections would be called.
However, the permanence of Benny Gantz in the Executive makes it impossible for there to be defections, and several National Unity legislators think that their leader will postpone his departure from the Government even without a plan for Gaza before June 8, in order to give space to the negotiations to free the hostages, Haaretz reported today.
The new leader of the Israeli Labor Party, former military man Yair Golan, affirmed this Wednesday that Israel should have ended the war in the Gaza Strip four months ago, when it “crushed the beloved arm of Hamas.”
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Golan also called for civil disobedience in order to put more pressure on Netanyahu, and suggested that Israelis not join the Army reserve until there is a change of government.
A child in Gaza.
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The condemnation also came from one of Netanyahu’s most media partners, the Minister of National Security (and radical right-wing settler), Itamar Ben Gvir, who in a message on social networks called for a criminal investigation against the Labor leader.
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