64 per cent of Israelis do not consider Abbas a partner for peace

A public opinion poll published by the Knesset’s television channel revealed that the majority of Israelis (64 per cent) do not consider Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas a partner for peace in negotiations. By contrast, only 27 per cent of Israeli’s considered Abbas to be a suitable partner for negotiations.

This Israeli attitude towards Abbas was formed due to their view that his recent speech to the UN General Assembly, where he accused Israel of committing war crimes and genocide in its latest war on Gaza, was evident of incitement against Israel.

Mahmoud Abbas is not the only leader unpopular amongst Israelis; 74 per cent said that they cannot and do not rely on American President, Barack Obama, in his policy towards the Middle East. Only 21 per cent of Israelis said that they trusted Obama’s Middle East policy.

Despite Obama’s constant reassurances of his commitment to Israel and its security, 62 per cent of Israelis said that Obama is not a true friend of Israel while 25 per cent believed that he was.

Netanyahu’s popularity seemed to be affected by these outlooks, as it was projected that the Likud party would win 27 seats instead of 19 had elections been held today.

The poll also predicted that the extremely right-wing Israeli party, Jewish Home led by Naftali Bennett , would become the second largest party in future elections. It is expected that the party would win 18 Knesset seats in the next elections.

According to the poll, the Labor Party is expected to win 16 instead of 15 seats; whereas, the Yesh Atid would drop from having 19 seats to ten in the next elections. The secular Yisraeli Beiteinu party is expected to drop to nine seats, whilst the Zionist Meretz party is expected to rise to nine seats. The Yahudat Hotrah bloc is expected to gain eight seats while Shas declines to seven. Hatunah, the party lead by Tzipi Livni, is expected to lose four seats while Arab parties will drop from having 11 seats to nine.

The poll indicates that right-wing parties would win 69 out of a total of 120 seats in the Knesset if a general election were to be held today.