Opinion polls continue to predict his collapse in the upcoming elections

As polls continue to be published confirming that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will be politically destroyed if he runs in elections, and that he and all of his far-right camp will lose power, sources close to him have revealed that he is considering the possibility of retiring. But he devises a plan to allow him to continue ruling for many months. In order to achieve a comprehensive regional peace project together with US President Joe Biden.

Political sources in circles close to Netanyahu said: The plan includes a settlement for his trial on corruption charges. 

Two years ago, the Public Prosecution began negotiating with Netanyahu on a judicial package in his trial, according to which he would be convicted and sentenced to suspended imprisonment on the condition that he confess to the charges and retire from politics for 7 years. But he refused to retire. However, today he is thinking about changing his mind, and is offering to agree to retire, on the condition that this does not happen immediately after the war. He wants to continue the war now, achieve victory, and engage in comprehensive regional negotiations in accordance with President Biden’s vision.

The sources said: Estimates in Netanyahu's circle are that the Hamas movement will now begin bringing representatives of the international press to the Gaza Strip during the truce as part of an intense propaganda campaign to convey images of the destruction caused by Israel there. Thus; It restores international pressure on Israel to end the fighting intensively, with a high possibility that the United States will join the demand for a long-term ceasefire and begin international contacts to achieve a political settlement that determines the status of the Gaza Strip, and may open the door to a new kind of political process for a regional settlement that includes the Palestinian issue.

According to Netanyahu's estimates, in such a scenario, the “Official Camp” party, headed by Benny Gantz, will withdraw from the government, and massive protest demonstrations will return, which will focus on calling on Netanyahu to resign. In order to save the people this trouble, he will announce his intention to retire when he completes the task of ending the war and achieving a political settlement.

A source in Netanyahu’s circle said: At this stage, the talk is about preliminary thinking about this possibility and not about a decision by the Prime Minister, adding that “the future of the deal with (Hamas) and the future of the fighting in Gaza will affect the decision-making process.” Netanyahu will decide according to developments and the emerging public-political situation.” Netanyahu’s office was quick to completely deny this news, saying: “It is baseless.” Prime Minister Netanyahu returns and makes clear that the war will not stop, and he is focused on completing all of the war’s goals until its end: liquidating Hamas, returning our kidnappers, and creating a reality in which Gaza no longer threatens the State of Israel.

But Netanyahu's opponents confirm that this plan is very appropriate for his thinking. Uri Misgav, a journalist, university lecturer and leader of the protest demonstrations, said: “The man still belittles the minds of Israelis and acts as if he is still the savior of the people of Israel. He is divorced from reality. He does not understand that the Israelis are abandoning him because they see in him the problem and not the solution. A person like him should be tried not only for financial corruption, but also for the political and security corruption that brought us the calamity of last October 7,” referring to the “Al-Aqsa Flood” operation carried out by the Hamas movement in the Gaza Strip. He stressed that Netanyahu must resign immediately and not wait until the war ends.

The weekly opinion poll, published by the Maariv newspaper every Friday, indicated an additional decline in the number of Likud seats, if elections were held today, from 32 seats in the last elections a year ago to 16 seats today, and the extremist Finance Minister’s party was destroyed. With Smotrich’s loss from 8 seats today to zero, and the right-wing camp’s seats falling from 64 to only 41 seats, this is the lowest percentage the right has obtained all year. This is due to the government's failure in all areas before the war and during the war as well.

The results of the poll indicated a new increase in the popularity of the head of the “National Camp” bloc and member of the War Command Council, Benny Gantz, doubling his strength more than three times, from the 12 seats he has today to 42 seats. Accordingly; If elections were held for the Knesset now, the opposition parties combined, including the Arab parties, would obtain 79 seats, out of a total of 120. They could form a sufficient coalition to form a government led by Gantz.

Gantz outperformed Netanyahu in terms of suitability to assume the position of prime minister, and 52 percent said: Gantz is more suitable, compared to 21 percent who saw Netanyahu as more suitable. The poll also indicated a decline in Netanyahu’s popularity among his voters, in light of the war on Gaza. 52 percent of them said: He is most suitable to head the government, while 26 percent of Likud voters said: Gantz is most suitable to assume the position.

It is noteworthy that the Arab parties are united in two blocs, each of which currently has five seats, and will also obtain five seats if the elections are held today, according to the aforementioned poll. The two blocs are the Democratic Front for Peace and Equality and the Arab Movement for Change, led by Representatives Ayman Odeh and Ahmed Tibi, on the one hand, which is a bloc that does not believe in entering into a government coalition, and on the other hand, the United Arab List bloc of the Islamic Movement led by Representative Mansour Abbas, which is a bloc concerned with participating in the government coalition.

Source: Asharq Al Awsat