Poll: Majority wants to remove leniencies on Palestinians

Panels Research poll finds that 51% of Israelis favor responding to recent wave of terrorist attacks by restricting Palestinians' freedom of movement.

By GIL STERN STERN HOFFMAN
Updated: JULY 3, 2015 01:44
Palestinians supporting Hamas chant slogans during a rally celebrating Hamas student supporters winning the student council election at Birzeit University in Ramallah (photo credit: REUTERS)
Palestinians supporting Hamas chant slogans during a rally celebrating Hamas student supporters winning the student council election at Birzeit University in Ramallah
(photo credit: REUTERS)
Israel should be tougher on Palestinians and cancel leniencies on their freedom of movement, in response to the recent wave of terrorist attacks, a majority of Israelis believe, according to a Panels Research poll broadcast Thursday on the Knesset Channel.
Fifty-one percent of Israelis favor responding to the attacks by removing the leniencies, 12% favor breaking off ties with the Palestinian Authority, and 23% called for responding to the attacks by advancing a diplomatic agreement, the poll found.
Asked whether Israel has a stable government, 63% said no and 33% said yes. Regarding how long Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government will last, 16% said less than a year, 51% said no more than two years, and 18% said it would complete its term that ends in November 2019.
Respondents were evenly divided over whether the government should be expanded.
Asked what opposition party they would like to see enter the coalition, 36% said the Zionist Union, 35% Yisrael Beytenu, 19% Yesh Atid, and 1% Meretz or the Joint List.
Eighty percent of respondents said they favored removing legislative powers from Joint List MK Basel Ghattas, who was aboard a Gaza-bound protest flotilla that the Israel Navy intercepted on Monday.
There were multiple questions about Netanyahu’s lack of success in advancing a procedural motion in the Knesset that would have enabled the advancement of a deal with energy companies about how to handle the natural gas off the Mediterranean coast.
One-third of the respondents said they credit Yisrael Beytenu chairman Avigdor Liberman for stymieing Netanyahu on the gas issue. Twelve percent credited Zionist Union MK Shelly Yacimovich, 7% opposition leader and Zionist Union chairman Isaac Herzog, and 2% Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid.
Two-thirds said it was inappropriate for Netanyahu to try to pass the procedure in the Knesset without releasing