These problems are even more evident when looking at the data for Likud, Netanyahu's party, which would go from 32 seats in 2022 to just 18. In the lead in the poll is National Unity, an electoral cartel between centrist and conservative parties led by the former leader of the Benny Gantz army and which also includes another former IDF chief, Gadi Eisenkot. Gantz was also Netanyahu's deputy prime minister in the broad-based government between 2020 and 2021 following the excellent result of his Blue and White list, which came within a few points of the Likud to the point of forcing the right-wing party into a broad-based coalition understandings. Gantz and Eisenkot, Netanyahu's opponents, also joined the emergency government created after the brutal Hamas attacks on October 7 and are part of the limited war cabinet that coordinates war operations in the Gaza Strip.
The parties of the far religious right, Netanyahu's allies who have been at the center of much criticism including that of American President Joe Biden, recorded a slight decline not comparable to that of the Likud. The coalition between the Religious Zionist Party and Otzma Yehudit would in fact obtain 13 seats, one less than in 2022.
Another fact that shows Netanyahu's difficulty with Israeli public opinion can be seen in the result that the Likud would obtain with a leader other than the current prime minister. With the leadership of former Mossad chief Yossi Cohen, for example, the party would limit the damage and stand at 23 seats, 5 more than the result it would obtain with Netanyahu,
Benjamin Netanyahu, the undisputed protagonist of the last decades of Israeli politics, was already facing a difficult time in the eyes of public opinion before October 7 due to a controversial justice reform. His popularity has plummeted since the attack by Hamas, with Netanyahu seen by large sections of the population as responsible for the failure to prevent the attacks, while many others raise concerns about his handling of the plight of the hostages Hamas is still in the hands of the terrorist group, whose fate remains an unknown.
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