Is public opinion shifting in Israel over the war?

Weekly protests have been taking place in Tel Aviv since the war began

(Image credit: Mostafa Alkharouf/Anadolu via Getty Images)

published 16 May 2024

As Israel's relations with its international allies grow increasingly strained, Benjamin Netanyahu is also battling to retain public support within his own country for the war against Hamas.

Amid a global outcry over the invasion of Rafah, a recent poll by the Israel Democracy Institute found that 56% of Jewish Israelis thought "reaching a hostage deal with Hamas should be the country’s top national priority", said The Times of Israel, while 37% believed military action should "take precedence".

What the commentators said?

More Israelis are "echoing global calls" for some kind of ceasefire, whether permanent or temporary, said Mat Nashed at Al Jazeera, "but their reasons differ". Few have the "blunt position" of completely deriding the war, but many believe that a ceasefire deal with Hamas is the "best way to save Israeli captives".

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Taking a public position against the war "was almost a taboo until just a few weeks ago", said Meron Rapoport in The Guardian. But now the repeated claims by "politicians, generals and commentators" that "only military pressure would bring back the hostages" are looking "more and more like empty words".

There are political reasons for the war to continue, however. Netanyahu is working to "secure both his short-term political survival and his long-term legacy", said Patrick Kingsley in The New York Times, and victory in the war or a deal in which Israel's demands are met is essential to that. But neither the political fight at home nor the one in Gaza is "going according to plan", and recent polls suggest he would "easily lose an election if one were held tomorrow".

The prime minister is also rapidly losing friends abroad, adding to the pressure. Joe Biden's decision to halt some US military aid to Israel has left many Israelis "shocked and dismayed" that the country's most steadfast ally is now at "its limits", said Gideon Rachmann at the Financial Times.

On top of that, Netanyahu has reportedly been "consumed for several weeks by the risk from the International Criminal Court", where warrants for war crimes could be issued, said The Economist. In response, he has "reversed Israeli policies on supplying aid to Gaza", but he appears to have "less and less control over events" and to instead be "guided by the threats and urgings of both his allies and his enemies".

What next?

Although support for the war, at least publicly, appears to still be largely intact amongst Israelis, the loss of the "unstinting public support" of the US is a major blow to Netanyahu, said David Horovitz in The Times of Israel.

In the face of allies' ebbing enthusiasm, the prime minister has responded with "bravado and defiance", said Rachmann, and has said that Israel "will stand alone” if needed.

But the "practical question Israelis are asking right now", said Horovitz, is "for how long Israel is actually capable of doing so".

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Richard Windsor is a freelance writer for The Week Digital. He began his journalism career writing about politics and sport while studying at the University of Southampton. He then worked across various football publications before specialising in cycling for almost nine years, covering major races including the Tour de France and interviewing some of the sport’s top riders. He led Cycling Weekly’s digital platforms as editor for seven of those years, helping to transform the publication into the UK’s largest cycling website. He now works as a freelance writer, editor and consultant.