48% of Israelis: Netanyahu visited Washington to advance his personal interests

A large segment of Israelis believe Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited Washington only to protect his personal interests, a new poll suggests.

The poll coincides with the continuation of Israeli demonstrations and protests demanding a prisoner exchange deal with Hamas.

According to a poll conducted by Israel's Channel 12, 48% of respondents believe that Netanyahu's main goal in visiting the US capital is to promote his personal interests.

Netanyahu began his visit to Washington on Wednesday, delivered a speech before Congress, and met with President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.

Several demonstrations took place in Washington against the visit - which lasted for 3 days - where protesters demanded an end to arming Israel and denounced Washington's celebration of a person who killed about 40,000 civilians in Gaza, most of whom were women and children.

In a related context, Haaretz newspaper quoted an Israeli negotiator - without naming him - as saying that Netanyahu is knowingly leading to a crisis in the talks with Hamas in an attempt to improve the situation.

The Israeli negotiator warned that this poses an uncalculated risk to the lives of prisoners held in Gaza.

Israel's private Channel 12 quoted senior political officials in Tel Aviv as saying that Netanyahu's behavior could delay reaching a deal for several weeks, or worse, could destroy it.

An official in the Israeli negotiating delegation told the channel, "We are losing momentum, and the deal will not last forever. Netanyahu is acting as if he abandoned the kidnapped soldiers. We are on our way to missing the deal."