Survey finds 62% of Israelis back quitting Iran deal
By GIL HOFFMANPRIME MINISTER Benjamin Netanyahu at a Likud party meeting last year. (Reuters)(photo credit: REUTERS)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu received a massive boost in support in the immediate aftermath of US President Donald Trump’s decision to adopt Netanyahu’s recommendation to quit the July 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, according to a Midgam poll broadcast Wednesday night on Channel 2.The poll found that if an election were held now, Netanyahu’s Likud party would rise from its current 30 Knesset seats to 35, up from the 28 predicted by the same pollster just two weeks ago on April 23 and the best the Likud has fared in Midgam polls in a decade.Former finance minister Yair Lapid’s Yesh Atid party, which briefly led the Likud, fell in the poll to 18 seats, just beyond half the mandates predicted for the Likud and fewer than the 19 the party won in the 2013 election.There was also bad news in the poll for the new socioeconomic party led by MK Orly Levy-Abecassis, which was predicted to win five seats, down from eight in the April 23 poll. She suffered from the national agenda returning to security.The Zionist Union would win 14 seats, down from its current 24, according to the survey. The Joint List would win 12, Bayit Yehudi eight, United Torah Judaism seven, Kulanu six, Yisrael Beytenu six, Meretz five and Shas four, with the latter teetering on the 3.25% electoral threshold.When the poll asked respondents whether they supported canceling the Iran deal, 62% said yes, 17% said no, and the rest did not offer an opinion.Asked if they were worried war would erupt, 62% said yes, 31% said no, and the rest did not respond.
