A turbulent political week failed to move the needle for Israel’s coalition parties, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition stuck at 50 seats, a new Maariv poll released Friday showed.
Similarly, in the opposition, there were only marginal shifts between the parties, with former prime minister Naftali Bennett's party dropping by one seat, while Yisrael Beytenu, led by Avigdor Liberman, gained one seat.
Another notable finding amid the political turmoil is that, once again this week, Religious Zionism, led by Bezalel Smotrich, the Reservists Party, led by Yoaz Hendel, and Blue and White, led by Benny Gantz, all failed to pass the electoral threshold.
In response to the question "If the following parties were to run in the next Knesset election, who would you vote for?" the results were: Likud 25 seats, unchanged; Bennett 21, down from 22; The Democrats and Eisenkot each have 10, unchanged; Yisrael Beytenu 10, up from 9, Yesh Atid, Otzma Yehudit, and Shas all at 9, unchanged; United Torah Judaism 7, unchanged; and both Hadash-Ta'al and Ra’am unchanged at 5.
According to the poll, Netanyahu’s coalition would have 50 seats, unchanged from last week, while the opposition would have 60, and 10 for the Arab parties.
As noted, Blue and White (2.2%), Religious Zionism (2.9%), Balad (1.8%), and the Reservists (2.4%) would not pass the electoral threshold.
More Israelis place trust in state commission of inquiry than government commission
The Maariv poll further showed that a majority of Israelis (62%) would place their trust in the conclusions of a state commission of inquiry appointed by Supreme Court President Justice Isaac Amit, whether full trust (41%) or partial trust (21%). Only 28% say they would place no trust at all in the conclusions of such a commission, and 10% are unsure.
A breakdown of responses by political affiliation reveals an almost mirror image: 68% of opposition voters would place full trust in the conclusions of a state commission of inquiry, whereas 61% of coalition voters would place no trust in it at all.
The Maariv poll also finds that the Israeli public is divided over the conclusions of a commission of inquiry appointed by a ministerial committee headed by Netanyahu. Forty two percent say they would trust its conclusions (21% fully, 21% partially), compared with 46% who say they would place no trust at all in the conclusions of such a commission.
Here too, there was a clear divide between camps, with 77% of coalition voters saying they would trust the conclusions, either fully (45%) or partially (32%), while 74% of opposition voters say they would have no trust at all in the conclusions of a commission appointed by the government.
According to the poll, there is a clear advantage to establishing a state commission of inquiry in terms of public trust in its conclusions, whether full trust (41% for a state commission compared to 21% for a government commission) or any level of trust (62% for a state commission compared to 42% for a government commission).
Against the backdrop of developments in the Qatargate affair, a significant portion of Israelis believe the latest revelations require summoning Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for questioning under caution. 44% support this, 27% believe there is no justification for it, and 29% are unsure. A breakdown shows that 66% of coalition party voters believe there is no justification for it, whereas 72% of opposition voters believe there is.
The poll, conducted on December 24-25 by Lazar Research, headed by Dr. Menachem Lazar, in cooperation with Panel4All, included 500 respondents, constituting a representative sample of the adult population in Israel aged 18 and over, Jews and Arabs. The maximum margin of error in the poll is 4.4%.